Much was made of the recent elections in India, the world's second most populous country and a member of the fast-growing "BRIC" -- Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- economies.
In a surprise result, the ruling Congress Party strengthened its grip on power, ostensibly allowing the government to enact much-needed reforms that could turn the country into true global player in the years to come.
Not surprisingly, the incoming leadership is making plans to reach out to other countries and develop or burnish relationships that can bolster those ambitions.
So which global power is at the top of the list? Not the one many might think, if the following Times of India report, "PM's First Foreign Trip Could Be to Russia," is anything to go by:
NEW DELHI: Where will PM Manmohan Singh first travel to? No, not Washington, but quite another part of the world. If all goes well, the PM is scheduled to make his first international presence in his second innings in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
This year, Russia will be hosting the SCO summit, BRIC summit as well as the trilateral summit. On June 15-16, the PM is expected to attend the BRIC summit with Brazil, Russia and China.
While India has never attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings, as its observer status does not allow it to be part of the core deliberations, this time, SCO has declared that observers would have a greater presence in the core agenda. This might be a reason for India to up the quality of its presence there.
The trilateral India-Russia-China summit is also expected at the same time, taking advantage of the presence of the leaders.
This second time around, the UPA will not want to give the impression that it's too close to the US, as had happened in the Bush years. There will be a greater interest in spreading the attention around.
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