India's size, population, modern history and strategic location give it a prominent voice in international affairs, as does its growing industrial, military, scientific and technical strengths, which lend it added weight. The nation has had a long record of collaborating closely with other developing countries on issues from trade to environmental protection. The end of the Cold War dramatically affected Indian foreign policy, as it did for much of the world. India remains a leader of the developing world and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which it helped co-found. It last hosted the NAM Heads of State Summit in 1997. The country now also seeks to strengthen its political and commercial ties with the United States, Japan, the European Union, Iran, Israel, the People's Republic of China, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. India is an active member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IORARC).

India has long been an active member of the United Nations and now seeks a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The country also has a long tradition of participating in UN peacekeeping operations and most recently contributed personnel to UN operations in Somalia, Cambodia, Mozambique, Kuwait, Bosnia, Rwanda, Angola, and El Salvador.

Bilateral and Regional Relations

Pakistan

Main Article: Relations between India and Pakistan

The principal source of contention between India and its western neighbour has been Kashmir, whose Hindu Maharaja, Hari Singh of Dogra and Muslim Prime Minister, Sheikh Abdullah chose in 1947 to join India. Their decision was hastened by the loss of territory to invading irregulars from Pakistan backed by the Pakistan Army. India maintains that his decision, which was the norm for every other princely state at Independence, and subsequent elections, for over 40 years, in Kashmir have made it an integral part of India. Pakistan asserts Kashmiris' rights to self-determination through a plebiscite in accordance with an earlier Indian statement and a UN resolution. This dispute triggered wars between the two countries in 1947 and 1965, and a limited conflict in 1999. The state remains divided between the two countries by the Line of Control (LoC), which demarcates the ceasefire line agreed upon in the 1947 conflict. Pakistan refers to its part of the state as Azad Kashmir. India terms it Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

In December 1971, following a political crisis in what was then East Pakistan and a subsequent genocide of Bengalis by the Pakistani army, millions of Bengali refugees fled to India. The situation soon spiralled out of control in East Pakistan and India was forced to intervene. Pakistan has always claimed that the armed insurrection in the troubled state was abetted by India. The brief conflict left the situation largely unchanged in the west, where the two armies reached an impasse (although India is regarded to have held the upper hand), but a decisive Indian victory in the east resulted in the creation of Bangladesh and over 90,000 Pakistani POWs.

Since the 1971 war, Pakistan and India have made only slow progress towards the normalization of relations. In July 1972, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto met in the Indian hill station of Shimla. They signed an agreement by which India would return

After the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, new strains appeared in Indo-Pak relations. Pakistan actively supported the Afghan resistance, while India was a friend of the USSR. In the following eight years, India voiced increasing concern over Pakistani arms purchases, U.S. military aid to Pakistan, and a clandestine Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. In an effort to curtail tensions, the two countries formed a joint commission to examine disputes. In December 1988, Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto concluded a pact not to attack each other's nuclear facilities. Agreements on cultural exchanges and civil aviation were also initiated.

In 1997, high-level Indo-Pakistan talks resumed after a 3-year pause. The Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan met twice and the foreign secretaries conducted three rounds of talks. In June 1997, the foreign secretaries identified eight "outstanding issues" around which continuing talks would be focused. The dispute over the status of Kashmir, (referred by India as Jammu and Kashmir), an issue since partition, remains the major stumbling block in their dialogue. India maintains that the entire former princely state is an integral part of the Indian union, while Pakistan insists that UN resolutions calling for self-determination of the people of the state must be taken into account. It however refuses to abide by the previous part of the resolution, which calls for it to vacate all territories occupied.

In September 1997, the talks broke down over the structure of how to deal with the issues of Kashmir, and peace and security. Pakistan advocated that the issues be treated by separate working groups. India responded that the two issues be taken up along with six others on a simultaneous basis. In May 1998 India, and then Pakistan, conducted nuclear tests. Attempts to restart dialogue between the two nations were given a major boost by the February 1999 meeting of both Prime Ministers in Lahore and their signing of three agreements. These efforts have since been stalled by the intrusion of Pakistani forces into Indian-held territory near Kargil in Kashmir in May 1999. A subsequent military coup in Pakistan that overturned the democratically elected Nawaz Sharif government in October of the same year also proved a setback to relations.

In 2001, a summit was called in Agra, India and Pakistan's military dictator, Pervez Musharraf turned up to meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The talks broke down when the Pakistani dictator repeatedly dubbed militants in Kashmir 'freedom fighters' at a press conference. The Indians appeared miffed and the talks fell through.

On June 20, 2004, with a new government in place in India, both countries agreed to extend a nuclear testing ban and to set up a hotline between their foreign secretaries aimed at preventing misunderstandings that might lead to a nuclear war.

India has granted Pakistan unilateral MFN (most favored nation) trade status under WTO guidelines, but Pakistan is yet to reciprocate. As of early 2005, both countries are committed to a process of dialogue to solve all outstanding issues. Baglihar dam issue was a new issue raised by Pakistan in 2005.

SAARC

Certain aspects of India's relations within the subcontinent are conducted through the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Its members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Established in 1985, SAARC encourages cooperation in agriculture, rural development, science and technology, culture, health, population control, narcotics control and anti-terrorism.

SAARC has intentionally stressed these "core issues" and avoided more divisive political issues, although political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings. In 1993, India and its SAARC partners signed an agreement gradually to lower tariffs within the region. Forward movement in SAARC has come to a standstill because of the tension between India and Pakistan, and the SAARC Summit originally scheduled for, but not held in, November 1999 has not been rescheduled.

In November 1988, at the behest of the Maldivian government, Indian paratroopers and naval forces crushed a coup attempt by mercenaries. India's action,

People's Republic of China

Main article: Sino-Indian relations

Despite lingering suspicions remaining from the 1962 Sino-Indian War and continuing territorial/boundary disputes in Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh, Sino-Indian relations have improved gradually since 1988. Both countries have sought to reduce tensions along the frontier, expand trade and cultural ties, and normalize relations.

A series of high-level visits between the two nations have helped improve relations. In December 1996, PRC President Jiang Zemin visited India on a tour of South Asia. While in New Delhi, he signed, with the Indian Prime Minister, a series of confidence-building measures for the disputed borders. This included troop reductions and weapons limitations, which appear to have taken place.

Sino-Indian relations received a setback in May 1998 when the Indian Defence minister justified the country's nuclear tests by citing potential threats from the PRC. However, in June 1999, during the Kargil crisis, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh visited Beijing and stated that India did not consider China a threat. Relations between India and the PRC are on the mend, and the two sides handled the move from Tibet to India of the 17th Karmapa in January 2000 with delicacy and tact. In 2003, India formally recognized Tibet as a part of China, and China recognized Sikkim as a formal part of India in 2004.

Both India and China are members of the East Asia Summit.

New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had major repercussions for Indian foreign policy. Substantial trade with the former Soviet Union plummeted after the Soviet collapse and has yet to recover. Longstanding military supply relationships were similarly disrupted due to questions over financing, although Russia continues to be India's largest supplier of military systems and spare parts.

Russia and India have decided not to renew the 1971 Indo-Soviet Peace and Friendship Treaty and have sought to follow what both describe as a more pragmatic, less ideological relationship. Russian President Yeltsin's visit to India in January 1993 helped cement this new relationship. Ties have grown stronger with President Vladimir Putin's 2004 visit. The pace of high-level visits has since increased, as has discussion of major defense purchases.

United States

Historically, relations between India and the United States were somewhat cool following Indian independence, as India took a leading position in the Non-Aligned Movement, and attempted to pursue even-handed economic and military relations with the Soviet Union. For most of the Cold War, the US tended to have warmer relations with Pakistan, primarily as a way to contain Soviet-friendly India and to use Pakistan to back the Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. An Indo-Soviet twenty year friendship treaty, signed in 1971, also positioned India 'against' the US.

However, since the end of the Cold War, India-US relations have improved dramatically. This has largely been fostered by the fact that the US and India are both vibrant democracies and have a large and growing trade relationship.

The economic sanctions imposed by the United States in response to India's nuclear tests in May 1998 appeared, at least initially, to seriously damage Indo-American relations. President Bill Clinton imposed wide-ranging sanctions pursuant to the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act. U.S. sanctions on Indian entities involved in the nuclear industry and opposition to international financial institution loans for non-humanitarian assistance projects in India. The United States encouraged India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) immediately and without condition. The U.S. also called for restraint in missile and nuclear testing and deployment by both India and Pakistan. The nonproliferation dialogue initiated after the 1998 nuclear tests has bridged many of the gaps in understanding between the countries.

However, India has yet to sign the CTBT, or the NPT, opposing the discriminatory nature of the treaty that allows the 5 declared nuclear countries of the world to keep their nuclear arsenal and develop it using computer simulation testing. Prior to its nuclear testing, India had pressed for a comprehensive destruction of nuclear weapons by all countries of the world in a time-bound frame. This was not acceptable to the US and other countries. Presently, India has declared its policy of "no-first use of nuclear weapons" and the maintenance of a "credible nuclear deterrence". The US, under president George W. Bush has also lifted most of its sanctions on India and has resumed military co-operation. Relations with US have considerably improved in the recent past, with the two countries even taking part in joint naval exercises off the coast of India and joint air exercises both in India as well as in the United States.

On 2 March 2006 India and US has signed a pact on co-operation in civilian nuclear field. This was signed during the four days state visit of US president George Bush in India. On it’s part, India would separate its civilian and military nuclear programs. And the civilian programs would be brought under the safeguards of IAEA. United States would sell India the reactor technologies and the nuclear fuel for setting up/ upgrading its civilian nuclear facility. The US congress needs to ratify this since it’s laws prohibit trading of nuclear technologies and materials outside the framework of the Nuclear Suppliers Group

India's ties with the US have grown stronger since the 9/11 attacks on the US. The country has long dealt with terrorism in several forms. From Kashmir, since 1947, to Punjab, in the period 1984-1992, and to the restive North East, since the late 1970s.

United Kingdom & Commonwealth

Since 1947, India's relations with the United Kingdom have been through bilateral, as well as through the Commonwealth of Nations framework. Although the Sterling Area no longer exists and the Commonwealth is much more an informal forum, India and the UK still have many enduring links. This is in part due to the significant number of people of Indian origin living in the UK. The large South Asian population in the UK results in steady travel and communication between the two countries. The British "Raj"(Rule) allowed for both cultures to imbibe tremendously from the other. The English language and cricket are perhaps the two most evident British exports, whilst in the UK Indian music and food are fixtures in daily life. It's also notable that there are many words of Indian origin now common to the language.

Economically the relationship between Britain and India is also strong. Britain is the largest investor in India after the US. The millions of pounds invested annually sustain a wide range of industries, including the controversial "call centres". Money flowing back to India from Indian expatriates in Britain is also quite substantial. These expatriates also tend to invest in real estate in India.

In the sphere of politics relations are mostly through multilateral channels, namely the Commonwealth. India has remained staunchly sovereign and has rejected any type of British intervention in regional affairs. Despite the occasional spats, such as the 1997 row when the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook offered to mediate a dispute over Kashmir, relations between London and New Delhi are warm. The Queen's visits to India have been enormously successful along with those by other members of the Royal Family. Britain has also supported India's rise to prominence on the international stage, including advocating a permanent seat on the Security Council.

Disputes - international

• Boundary with China in dispute; (see also: Aksai Chin)
• Status of Kashmir with Pakistan;
• Water-sharing problems with Pakistan over the Indus River (Wular Barrage);
• A portion of the boundary with Bangladesh is indefinite;
• Dispute with Bangladesh over New Moore/South Talpatty Island