India, Now Facing Western Flak Over Ukraine Stance, Secretly Held Talks With NATO In 2019: Report

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, facing flak from western countries for its neutral stand on the Russia-Ukraine war, secretly held its first political dialogue with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Brussels in 2019.

The dialogue between NATO and India was attended by senior Indian officials from the foreign affairs ministry and defense ministry. According to Indian Express sources, the idea was to ensure that the dialogue was primarily political in character without any commitment to military or other bilateral cooperation.

See Also: Putin Is 'Not Bluffing:' Analyst Warns Germany Faces 'Severe Recession' With Russia Holding Back Gas Supplies

The report noted that the Indian delegation essentially attempted to assess cooperation on regional and global issues of mutual interest. The first round of dialogue was finalized by the Indian Embassy in Brussels in December 2019, after it received a draft agenda for the meeting from NATO.

Following this, NATO convened an inter-ministerial meeting with the Indian representatives from the ministries and the National Security Council Secretariat.

The unnamed government sources told the publication that engaging NATO in a political dialogue would provide an opportunity to bring about a balance in NATO's perceptions about the region's situation and issues of concern to India.

Both the parties also discussed a possible second round in New Delhi in 2020; however, COVID-19 delayed the plans.

Not only India, until December 2019, the intergovernmental military alliance had also held nine rounds of talks with Beijing, while its ambassador in Brussels and NATO's deputy secretary general engaged with each other every quarter.

NATO had also been involved with Pakistan.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed U.S. ratification of bids by Finland and Sweden to enter NATO, as he said the two nordic countries would become "strong, reliable, highly capable new allies."

Check out more of Benzinga's Europe and Asia coverage by following this link.