In today’s episode of Figuring Out, we have Dr. S. Jaishankar in conversation with Raj Shamani. He is an Indian diplomat and politician serving as the Minister of External Affairs of the Government of India. He is admired for his answers and statements in various interviews when it comes to answering anything about India and its foreign affairs. In this episode, we discussed about the Ukraine and Russia war, how China was trying to create pressure on the boundary, and what would be India’s foreign policies to deal with this. We also talked about how Pakistan and China killed our soldiers in different wars and how are we tackling these situations in different ways and why. We then talked about how China has become a global supply chain and how can we become a top 3 or 4 option globally. He also shared about how India has changed and how once we had to give bribes for passports and how that was removed and how our governance has become more efficient. He talked about the neighbor-first policy and how are we executing it. Towards the end, we talked about the top 2 countries that he thinks are opportunities for us, who have great purchasing power and market potential. He also described India in 4 beautiful lines which sums up how we are changing. He shared how globally people are perceiving India differently and how he thinks only P.M Modi could have chosen him as an external minister. We ended with understanding what is Indian Dream according to him. For more such insightful podcasts, subscribe to our channel and join us on this journey of Figuring Out. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 04:10 - His visit to Indore 05:19 - India’s stand on Ukraine-Russia war 09:47 - India’s foreign policy on defence trade 11:46 - India China trade deficit 16:14 - China’s debt trap 25:40 - Neighbour first policy 29:00 - India’s relationship with Canada 34:29 - Foreign services expansion plan 36:57 - US Visa crisis 41:06 - Top 3 countries for export 44:54 - How is the Indian ministry promoting exports? 46:51 - India’s marketing 49:26 - Why did PM Modi give him an external ministry? 52:32 - Indian politics in the world 57:55 - His out of competition decisions 1:00:17 - India a friend of the world 1:05:25 - His Indian dream 1:09:39 - Conclusion --------------