Diplomacy at work to ease off straining Indo-Arab ties

India's relationship with the Arab world was impacted in the last few weeks and one of the major reasons was fake Twitter handles used from Pakistan to defame India. However, the Indian administration has started to use diplomatic channels to reset the ties.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier had telephonic conservations with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, where he stressed on India's "Think West" foreign policy. He reportedly also highlighted the need for a collaborative and coordinated strategy to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.

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The Minister of External Affairs (MEA) S Jaishankar also extended his greetings on the holy month of Ramzan to the foreign ministers of the Middle East countries and thanked them for supporting the Indian diaspora. The foreign ministers of Gulf nations also lauded the contribution of the Indian community during the coronavirus outbreak and promised to support them.

India is also supplying drugs, including hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar.

After Kuwait's request, India has also sent a specialised team of medical professionals for training purposes related to coronavirus.

The Indo-Gulf talks also touched upon the negative social media campaign and the two sides agreed to have a zero-tolerance policy towards such incidents.

This comes after a number of parody accounts on Twitter spread fake information which strained the ties between both the regions.

India also vowed that it will help in the evacuation at the earliest of the medical personnel from the Gulf who are stranded in India.

The recovery plan post-COVID-19 was also discussed, along with talks on energy and volatility in the oil market.