Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar needs no introduction. The career diplomat – who retired on January 28 after completing three years as India’s foreign secretary – was the driving force behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outreach to the world. Dr Jaishankar not only served as a bridge between the External Affairs Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office, but also helped shape the robust Indian foreign policy. Prior to this, he had served as the Indian Ambassador to the US (2013-15), China (2009-13) and the Czech Republic (2001-04), and also as High Commissioner to Singapore (2007-09), bridging many a hiatus everywhere. Dr Jaishankar will also be remembered for his key role in negotiating the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement in 2005.
As India is all set to increase its military presence outside the sub-continent, this man has played an important role there for the last time just a day before his retirement. On January 27, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs signed a treaty with Seychelles in order to build military infrastructure near the ‘Horn of Africa’. Seychelles – an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean off East Africa – allowed India to build the infrastructure on Assomption Island.

Dr S Jaishankar

After signing the agreement (along with Secretary of State of Seychelles Barry Faure) in Victoria, Dr Jaishankar said that the Parliament of Seychelles would soon ratify the agreement, as both the government and the opposition were eager to boost ties with the South Asian nation.
New Delhi has been holding talks with various Asian and African countries in order to increase military presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). In South-east Asia, the Indian Navy vessels make frequent visits to Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines. New Delhi has also sought help from Seychelles and Mauritius in an attempt to ensure the Indian Navy’s presence in the western part of the IOR.
In fact, India had struck a deal with Seychelles during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the African nation in 2015. However, the Parliament of Seychelles opposed the accord and did not allow the government to implement it. The then-President of Seychelles James Michel resigned on October 16, 2016. Later in 2017, his successor Danny Faure informed New Delhi that the bilateral agreement was not legally valid, as the Parliament didn’t ratify the accord. The president also asked India to sign a fresh deal with his country.

After receiving President Faure’s message, it was time for India being active once again and New Delhi sent Dr Jaishankar to Seychelles in October 2017. The visiting foreign secretary held talks not only with the president, but also with the opposition leaders (as the president’s party was minority in the Parliament). The Seychelles National Party of Wavel Ramkalawan – the politician of Indian origin who lost the last Presidential Elections by just 193 votes – has maximum number of members in the Parliament. After holding long discussions, both the parties made some amendments in the agreement. Later, President Faure and Ramkalawan accepted the changes made by officials of the two countries in the accord. Finally, the Cabinet cleared the agreement on January 22, 2018. The Indian foreign secretary reached Victoria on January 27 to sign the revised agreement for the ‘Development, Management, Operation and Maintenance of Facilities’ on Assomption Island. It was Dr Jaishankar’s last assignment as the foreign secretary.
After signing the agreement, the seasoned Indian diplomat said: “Relations with countries in the Indian Ocean Region and nurturing a climate of peace and stability are important cornerstones of India’s foreign policy. Our vision for the region is based on co-operation and collective action to tackle maritime security challenges.” He also said: “Seychelles with its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) spread over 1.3 million sqkm is particularly vulnerable. Recognising this, India and Seychelles have drawn up a co-operation agenda that covers within its purview shared efforts in anti-piracy operations, and enhanced EEZ surveillance and monitoring to prevent intrusions by potential economic offenders indulging in illegal fishing, poaching, drug and human trafficking.” He informed the media that India launched the ‘coastal surveillance radar system’ in March 2016.
For his part, Secretary of State of Seychelles Barry Faure stressed: “Seychelles and India signed the revised Agreement for the Development of Facilities on Assomption today and held productive bilateral co-operation meetings. The process of ratification will ensue. The year 2018 will see a real acceleration in our co-operation programme.”

PM Modi with Dr Jaishankar

Meanwhile, the defence experts have welcomed the signing of the agreement as they believe the accord is important not only for Seychelles, but also for India. China has already increased its presence in the IOR by setting up a naval base in strategically important Horn of Africa. As a result, it becomes crucial for India to build naval bases in that particular region. While China built its naval base in Djibouti, India will set up a similar base in Assomption Island (just 2,445km from Djibouti). Experts have opined that India’s move will certainly put its northern neighbor under tremendous pressure.
Now, the real ‘tug of war’ between the two Asian powers (over their military presence in the IOR) begins in Africa! And Dr Jaishankar blew the whistle for one last time as foreign secretary.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das