Dr. S Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister, will visit Palestine on March 8

*Paromita Das

Dr. S Jaishankar, India’s external affairs minister, will travel to Ramallah, Palestine, on March 8 for a two-day visit.

The India-Palestine Joint Commission Meeting (JCM), which he will co-chair with his Palestinian counterpart Riad al-Maliki, will be the main focus of his visit. This is Dr. Jaishankar’s first visit to Ramallah as Minister of External Affairs. EAM will also meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh during his visit.

In November 2016, a joint commission meeting (JCM) was held. Sushma Swaraj, the then-Emergency Affairs Minister, visited Palestine in January 2016 and met with President Abbas and Foreign Minister Riad.

During her visit, she officially opened the India-Palestine digital learning and innovation center at Al Quds University in Ramallah.

EAM Jaishankar is also slated to open a $5 million technopark project during his visit. While India continues to support the Palestinian cause on a bilateral and international level, it has also provided economic help to the Palestinian people. In 2015, two schools were built in Palestine with Indian assistance. In 2015, the Indian government established an India-Palestine Centre of Excellence in ICT and Innovation at Al Quds University in Abu Dis, followed by another ICT center in Ramallah in 2016.

On February 10, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to the De Jure Sovereign state.

Previously, in October 2015, then-Indian President Pranab Mukherjee conducted a visit. During the President’s 2015 visit, India announced five projects totaling $17.79 million, including the establishment of a Palestine-India Techno Park in Ramallah and the Palestine Institute of Diplomacy.

The highest Palestinian accolade, the “Grand Collar of the State of Palestine,” has been awarded to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In light of the UN agency’s financial difficulties, New Delhi has upped its annual contribution to the UN Relief and Works Agency in the Near East (UNRWA) from USD 1.25 million to USD 5 million.

Following the visit to Palestine, EAM will travel to other nations in the area, with an in-person West Asian Quad meeting on the horizon. The west Asian quad, which includes the UAE, India, Israel, and the United States, is known as I2, and U2 is anticipated to meet in person in Dubai.

This means that in addition to US Secretary of State Blinken, Israel’s Foreign Minister will visit the country. However, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, things could alter dramatically as concerns about Russian President Putin’s escalating military offensive mount.

The West Asian quad last met virtually last year during EAM’s visit to Israel, and since then, all parties have designated a nodal person who will coordinate from each nation on various matters, notably economic.

This year, EAM has already visited the Indo-Pacific area, including Australia and the Philippines, as well as Europe, including Germany and France. However, his first trip this year was to Qatar in West Asia.