ISAS Briefs

New Delhi’s decision to invite the leaders of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation forum to the inauguration ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the end of May 2019 marks the continuing tilt in India’s foreign policy towards the eastern subcontinent. The unwillingness to invite Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to the inauguration, however, does not mean Modi will turn his back on Pakistan. What it does show is the new understanding in New Delhi that Pakistan and the North Western subcontinent is a problem that must be managed, while the eastern subcontinent that extends into Southeast Asia is an opportunity that must be nurtured.