Foreign policy is about fulfilling domestic objectives: Tharoor

“We can no more afford the luxury of not thinking about how we impact the world whilst every step we take,” said Shashi Tharoor at the 16th Lalit Doshi Memorial lecture on Friday. HT reports

“We can no more afford the luxury of not thinking about how we impact the world whilst every step we take,” said Shashi Tharoor at the 16th Lalit Doshi Memorial lecture on Friday.

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Speaking on ‘Reshaping the world, Challenges for an India in transformation’, at YB Chavan Centre Auditorium, the Member of Parliament said, “As India and other emerging powers come up, we need to concentrate how we shape our foreign policy and engage with the world through our national values.”

Accompanied by his fiancee Sunanda Pushkar, Tharoor spoke India’s strategic autonomy starting from the time of Nehru. As globalisation breaks barriers and borders and advancement in technology facilitates not just getting the world closer but also threats of terrorism, nuclear arms race and illegal migrations, Tharoor said that India needs to participate in finding solutions that also break borders and barriers.

“Issues that once seemed far away are now there in our backyard. Economic dynamism has moved from the west to the east and it is time that all emerging powers engage in a system redesign for global governance.”

Tharoor said India should apply its resources to expand in the field of Internet and space and look at countries in Africa in the future for agricultural land.