Speaking at the 2021 Raisina Dialogue, the then Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, advocated for a stepped-up dialogue between NATO and India. He argued that India was “at the forefront of many of our shared security challenges,” including addressing international terrorism and maritime security, and was “committed to upholding the rules-based order.”
Four years later, the new NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, subscribes to the same view regarding the importance of a dialogue between NATO and India. If anything, this dialogue has become more urgent in the current context: India is a major global player and a security actor which has been increasing its ties with many NATO countries and the European Union. Our world is even more dangerous than it was in 2021, and the threats and challenges we face are even more global and interconnected.