All roads lead to Delhi

In January–February 2026, India was visited, among others, by the Chancellor of Germany, a European Union delegation led by the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, the President of France, the Prime Minister of Spain, the President of Slovakia, the President of Estonia, the President of Switzerland, the Prime Minister of Greece, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the Prime Minister of Finland, the President of the UAE, and the President of Brazil. In addition, negotiations on the EU–India FTA and the US–India treaty were concluded. Most of these leaders came to attend the India AI Impact Summit 2026.

There is nothing surprising about this. In December, India was visited by Vladimir Putin, who was received with great ceremony. However, this did not mean that New Delhi sees its primary partner in Moscow. As I wrote at the time: „For India, the real priority lies in securing favorable deals with the European Union and the United States. These are the sources of advanced technologies and substantive economic cooperation – not just discounted raw materials, as it is with Russia. New Delhi is fully aware of this, but also recognizes that Putin’s visit can be leveraged to strengthen its negotiating position.” And that is precisely what has happened – India is strengthening its position on the international stage by talking to everyone, or almost everyone.

Each party also has its own interests to pursue. France is expanding military cooperation and selling arms to India. The AI summit in Delhi is also a particularly interesting initiative. India is not yet a leader in this field, but it aims to enhance its capabilities and is seeking partners to do so. Europe is a natural partner here, as it finds itself in a similar position.

At present, we still do not know the full text of the EU–India Free Trade Agreement (it remains in the „legal scrubbing” phase), and information about the US–India agreement is available only through media reports. The FTA will still require time before it enters into force, and only then will we be able to assess how beneficial it truly is. For now, however, we are witnessing the most significant opening of India toward the West in recent decades.