Participation of India in the Arctic Council

The purpose of the article is to examine India’s participation in the work of the Arctic Council by analyzing three criteria: the number of delegates sent by India to the meetings of the Arctic Council’s Senior Arctic Officials; the number of projects in which India participates as part of the Council’s working groups; the content of these projects and their distribution among the Council’s groups. The lists of participants in the meetings of the Senior Arctic Officials and the reports India provided to the Arctic Council were studied to identify the indicators. A systematic approach was used as a methodological basis; methods included analysis of documents, comparative analysis, generalization and synthesis. The following conclusions were made on the basis of the results of studying the documents: the composition of India’s delegation to the meetings of Senior Officials is represented by a smaller number of participants compared to the delegations of other Asian observer countries of the Council, which indicates that India’s environmental policy in the Arctic is not fully formed. Compared to the period 20172019, there was a sharp increase in the number of projects in which India participates as part of its activities in the Arctic Council in 20192021, which is associated with its re-election as an observer, as well as with internal institutional changes in the country. India shows the greatest interest in the projects of the AMAP, CAFF and PAME working groups, which correlates with the national document published in 2013 and the international commitments made. India is participating in ACAP and SDWG due to its climate and energy policies. India does not participate in EPPR projects. India has not yet fully exploited its potential in the work of the Arctic Council. The practical significance of the work lies in the possibility of using its findings to further build a dialogue with India; its conclusions can form the basis of future scientific research.