Recently a bipartisan group of US Senators wrote to India’s Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu backing India’s decision to invite Australia to the annual Malabar naval exercise. The letter also asks India to join the Blue Dot Network.
What is Blue Dot Network?
- The Blue Dot Network is a U.S.-led collaboration with Australia and Japan.
- It is led by the US’s International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
- The network was jointly launched by the US, Japan (Japanese Bank for International Cooperation) and Australia (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) in November 2019 on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit in Thailand.
- Being a multi-stakeholder imitative, it aims to bring governments, the private sector and civil society together to promote “high quality, trusted standards for global infrastructure development”.
- The Blue Dot network is part of the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which is aimed at countering Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious BRI.
(Source: The Hindu and Indian Express)
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