Speaking at a conference chaired by Senator Sherry Rehman titled ‘The Road to 2016: Negotiating Deadlock and Diplomacy with India and Afghanistan’, participants discussed Jinnah Institute’s Track II diplomacy efforts for building sustained channels of bilateral and multilateral engagements and for offering alternative recommendations on regional policy issues.

With an eye on giving impetus to neighborhood first policy amid thaw in ties with Pakistan, India will host South Asian Games (SAG) in Guwahati and Shillong from Feb 6-16 2016. Delhi hopes that the Games will enhance people-to-people and youth links among eight South Asian countries in the spirit of Modi government's importance to neighboring states. 
 

India selected Japan to help build its first high-speed rail link in a coup for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a defeat for China, which also had bid for the signature project. The $15 billion deal clinches three years of negotiations and reflects the deepening relationship between India and Japan stemming from the personal relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Abe. 

Active on Twitter since 2009, PM Modi is the most followed Indian politician, and the 2nd most followed politician in the world, right after US President Barack Obama (@barackobama) with 66.1 million followers. PM Modi has also set new records as the largest increase in the number of followers in a 12-month period for an Indian account.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday said that the India-Japan bilateral relationship has the “greatest potential,” a view that was shared by his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

Narendra Modi may have politely enjoyed the Red Arrows and his night at that charming B&B called Chequers. But it took a take-over of England's national stadium to a pulsating Bhangra beat and a kaleidoscope of saris to show the true dynamism of Anglo-Indian relations - and the populist talents of its most powerful politician.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, who wooed Nepalis on his two visits last year, during which he promoted his “neighborhood first” diplomacy, is now an object of scorn. Some people have burned effigies of him, and a #BackoffIndia hashtag was recently trending on Twitter. While Nepal’s allies, including China, welcomed the new Constitution, India merely “noted” it.

The third India-Africa Forum Summit has been depicted as truly historic. It is so for three reasons: it was the largest assembly of African leaders outside Africa; the biggest gathering of Africa’s 41 heads of state/government on Indian soil; and it saw India unveiling a bigger development cooperation package than ever before.