India and International Organisations

India and International Organisations

India is a potential superpower and has a growing international influence all around the world. Being a newly industrialised country, India has a great history of collaboration with several countries. It has acted as prominent member of several international organisations and has been a founding member of some. India is a member of formal groupings like UNO, NAM, SAARC, G20 and the Commonwealth. India has been extending a helping hand to the UNO, in all her efforts in ending military conflicts, and in promoting peace and progress among the nations.

BRICS

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are leading emerging economies and political powers at the regional and international level. The BRICS organisation’s headquarters is in Shanghai, China. BRICS opened up a possibility for countries of the Global South to challenge the Global North. India is an active member and this collaboration paves way for India to build its global profile.

Reason for the formation of BRICS

To be an alternative to World Bank and IMF to challenge U.S. supremacy

To provide self-owned and self-managed organisations to carry out developmental and economical plans in its member nations

India is actively engaged in general economic diplomacy, which is evident in the country being part of several economic coalitions, as listed in the table below.

Objectives of BRICS

• To achieve regional development

• It acts as a bridge between developed and developing countries

• Tocontributeextensivelytodevelopment of humanity

• To establish a more equitable and fair world

• Boost intra BRICS trade in their local currencies to increase trade cooperation and cope with the current international financial crisis

• To promote the technological information exchange among the member states

The acronym BRICS was coined by Jim O’Neill, a famous British economist. He predicted that by year 2050 Brazil, Russia, India and China would become bigger than the six most industrialised nations in dollar terms and would completely change the power dynamics of the last 300 years.

• To enhance inclusive economic growth that will lead to an increase in the creation of jobs, fight against poverty and accelerate the economic transformation of members.

The financial architecture of BRICS

The New Development Bank (NDB) is a multilateral development bank. Its primary focus is lending for infrastructure projects. It aims to contribute to development plans established nationally through projects that are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. It gives priority to projects aimed at developing renewable energy sources.

The Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) is a framework for providing protection against global liquidity pressures, which includes currency issues.

BRICS payment system

At the 2015 BRICS Summit, ministers from the BRICS nations initiated consultations for a payment system that would be an alternative to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system.

The factors that bolster co-operation among members

First, the common need among developing countries to construct an economic order that reflects the current situation will drive the BRICS efforts. In this matter, the idea of NDB and CRA are defining changes and will have huge geo-economic and geopolitical impact.

Second, the BRICS alternative idea in the landscape of global governance will attract support from other countries.

Third, the expansion of BRICS interaction to other sector will make it more strong partnership.

OPEC

OPEC, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (a group of oil-producing nations), is an intergovernmental organisation founded in Baghdad, Iraq, and headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are the OPEC’s Founder Members.

There are three categories of memberships: Founder Members, Full Members and Associate Members. At present there are 15 member nations (two are located in South America, six in the Middle East and seven in Africa). OPEC membership is open to any country that exports crude oil and which shares the ideals of the organisation.

OPEC’s mission

• To coordinate oil policies in its member countries

• Help stabilise oil markets

• To secure fair and stable income to petroleum producers

• An efficient, economic and regular supply of oil to consuming nations

• A fair return on capital to those investing in the petroleum industry

How does OPEC help other countries?

The OPEC Fund for International Development (OPID) is an institution that helps finance projects with low interest loans. It also provides grants to social and humanitarian projects.

The OPEC LOGO

It is the result of an international design competition held in 1969. An Austrian designer Svoboda won the competition with her design, which combined the different letters of the organisation’s name in a rounded design

OPEC has an Information Centre with over 20,000 volumes including books, reports, maps and conference proceedings related to petroleum, energy and the oil market. The Information Centre is open to the public and is often used by researchers and students.

India’s relationship with OPEC

India is one of the biggest consumers of crude oil. OPEC obviously has vested interest in India’s economic growth. We import 86% of crude oil, 70% natural gas, 95% of cooking gas from OPEC countries. India has been identified as a great partner for OPEC mainly because of its high oil demand.

India doesn’t have enough oil reserves. India can’t produce oil. Devoid of necessary oil reserves India strongly focuses on agriculture, and industrial production.

Conclusion

Apart from economic and trade cooperation, India also aspires to have a warm relationship with its neighbours and extended neighbours in the field of education, health, fighting terrorism, disaster management, employment for its citizens, curbing organised crimes, technology development and so on.