Vice-President Opens 4th IN-STEP with 22 Nations Taking Part

Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan asked the countries of the Global South to work together far more closely on the security and development problems that no country can now settle on its own. He was speaking to the delegates of the fourth edition of the International Strategic Engagement Programme (IN-STEP) at Uprashtrapati Bhawan in the national capital.

Who runs the programme

IN-STEP is put together jointly by the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the National Security Council Secretariat, in association with the National Defence College. It runs for a fortnight and gives senior professionals a place to compare notes on strategic, security and development questions and to build lasting institutional and professional links. The Vice-President traced the idea back to the commitment India made during its presidency of the G20, to keep a standing platform for dialogue and mutual learning alive.

Who is attending this time

The fourth edition has 38 delegates in all. Of these, 25 have come from 22 countries, among them Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Mongolia, Nepal, Mauritius, Maldives, Oman, Guyana, Chile, Argentina, the Philippines, Thailand, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Myanmar, Uzbekistan and Brazil. Earlier editions were held in March 2024, in October 2024 and across October and November 2025.

What the Vice-President said

He set out three ideas as the spirit of the programme, to think globally, engage strategically and act in cohesion. The strategic picture, he said, is changing quickly, and old-style security worries now run into questions of technology, cyberspace, artificial intelligence, energy security, economic resilience, maritime security, climate change and supply chains all at once. The Global South, with its range of experience, has much to teach on resilience, development, governance and cooperation, and India deals with these countries on the footing of mutual respect, shared interest and sovereign equality.

Corruption and shared science

Corruption, the Vice-President said, is still one of the heaviest burdens these countries carry, and he asked the delegates to build systems free of it at every level, with honesty and openness in public life. Recalling the help India sent during the pandemic through Vaccine Maitri, he argued that inventions and scientific advances should serve everybody rather than a few, in keeping with the idea of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, one earth, one family, one future. He thanked the National Security Council Secretariat and the two ministries for assembling the group.