Sushma Swaraj was the Indian

External Affairs Minister The Minister of External Affairs (or simply, the Foreign Minister, in Hindi ''Videsh Mantri'' ) is the head of the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most offices in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsib ...

under Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

from May 2014 till May 2019, responsible for implementing the

foreign policy of Narendra Modi The foreign policy of the Modi government (also referred to as the Modi doctrine) is associated with the policy initiatives made towards other states by the current government of India after Narendra Modi assumed the office of prime minister ...

. She is only the second women to hold this position after

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

Background

Swaraj was a lawyer by profession and a seasoned parliamentarian with many 'first-timer' records in her name, often considered to be among the best spoken Indian politician and also known for her diplomatic skills. She served as the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the

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Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

from 2009 to 2014 and by virtue of her designation she had the opportunity to meet a galaxy of world leaders visiting India apart from her official foreign trips. This has significantly improved her understanding in world affairs and also helped her to develop a personal rapport with many important dignitaries.

Policy initiatives

Fast-track Diplomacy

On completion of the first 100 days of Modi govt the External Affairs Ministry published a booklet called "Fast Track Diplomacy" show-casing the achievement made in the foreign policy arena. In her first media interaction, the minister Sushma Swaraj said the catchphrase for her tenure was "fast-track diplomacy" and said it had three faces – proactive, strong and sensitive. Since taking office, the External Affairs Minister held round-table meeting with all Indian heads of missions to the SAARC region, ASEAN region and Middle East separately as a follow up measure to carry forward the leads gained by high-profile visits and exchanges.

Act East Policy

From the very beginning, the

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Government made it ample clear that India would focus more and more on improving relation with

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

and other East Asian countries as per India's Look East policy which was formulated during

Narasimha Rao Narasimha Rao or Narasimharao is an Indian surname. It may refer to: * P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004), ninth prime minister of India * Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao (1865–1940), Telugu writer * Vinjamuri Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha Rao (1887� ...

's Government in 1992 for better economic engagement with its eastern neighbours but successive Governments later successfully turned it into a tool for forging strategic partnership and security cooperation with countries in that region in general and Vietnam and Japan in particular. In her recent visit to

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, Vietnam, Sushma Swaraj has stressed on the need for an Act East Policy that she said should replace India's over two decade-old Look East Policy emphasizing a more proactive role for India in this region.

Multilateral engagements

ASEAN Regional Forum

Swaraj attended the 2014 ASEAN Regional Forum followed by the related EAS Foreign Ministers meeting, held from 8–11 August in Naypidaw, Myanmar, which was her first ever appearance in multilateral forums after becoming India's foreign affairs head. She had held bilateral meetings with her counterparts from seven countries including China, Australia, Canada, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei and Indonesia.

Foreign trips made as External Affairs Minister

The following is a list of international visits made by Swaraj after taking office as External Affairs Minister on 26 May 2014.

2014

2015

2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foreign Policy Of Narendra Modi Foreign relations of India Foreign policy of the Narendra Modi administration S