No country can stay on sidelines of Ukraine crisis, says Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg

India has a special responsibility in Indo-Pacific and South Asia, says delegate

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg is one of many officials and ministers visiting India from European and U.S. ally countries that are part of the sanctions regime against Russia, in an attempt to discuss India’s position on the issue. In this chat, Mr. Schallenberg, who travelled to Delhi from Islamabad this week, says India and Pakistan should open up trade and build South Asian connectivity.

Your visit to Delhi comes amid a string of visitors, mostly European, U.K., U.S. allies who are already part of the sanctions regime against Russia over its actions on Ukraine. Did you come to Delhi with a specific message?

Yes, I came to Delhi with a couple of ideas in mind that can be wrapped up in one sentence: to put Austria more firmly on India‘s political and economic map; and, vice-versa, to put India on Austria‘s map. Austria is a very export-oriented country, so I am glad that a high-level delegation from the Austrian Economic Chamber and from Austrian businesses has accompanied me to explore India‘s potential. As the tectonic shifts we are now seeing in Europe will have long-term consequences for our businesses, we need to look for new markets and reliable partners. I hope that India could be one of them.

You said you’re looking for new markets, you flew into Delhi from Islamabad. What was the purpose of your visit there?

My visit to India and Pakistan had a geopolitical as well as an economic purpose. It is important for me to highlight that in both countries I had very productive talks. While we are fully aware that there are issues at stake, economically both India and Pakistan would have an enormous potential if they started trading and started opening borders. That was also the message during my visit.

Is that something that you conveyed to the Indian side?

This is something we have been discussing all along. And I believe India is fully aware of this reality. An Indian company will always look at the European market as a whole and not single out a European country. Similarly, European businesses have the tendency of looking at the whole of South Asia as a market.