Jordan and India: Partnership and Prospects
A recent study published by the Politics and Society Institute on Jordanian-Indian relations, titled “Jordan and India in a Changing Regional Order,” draws attention to an issue that goes beyond its immediate subject. While examining the trajectory of relations between Amman and New Delhi and the prospects for developing them, the study raises a broader question: to what extent do we actually make use of knowledge, expertise, and academic research in shaping our foreign and economic policies?
The importance of the study begins with the international moment in which we find ourselves. For Jordan, India is no longer merely a distant Asian country or a vast market. It is an emerging global power—economically, technologically, and politically—that is seeking to expand its presence in the Middle East. Jordan, meanwhile, is looking to diversify its economic and strategic partnerships and secure a stronger position amid ongoing shifts in international trade, supply chains, and emerging economic corridors. From this perspective, the relationship between the two countries acquires significance well beyond conventional bilateral ties.
The study captures these transformations and places the relationship within a wider framework: from phosphate, potash, and food security to technology, artificial intelligence, and education; from security and defence cooperation to tourism, culture, and labour; and ultimately to Jordan’s potential position in the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). In doing so, it reveals both the breadth of potential shared interests and the gap between available opportunities and the ability to translate them into actual projects and policies.
Perhaps this is the study’s most important conclusion. The problem does not always lie in the absence of agreements, official visits, or political will, but rather in the missing link between ideas and implementation. The study points, for example, to the need to move from exporting raw materials towards value-added industries, to make technology transfer an integral component of new investments, to develop digital infrastructure, facilitate procedures for investors, and build a Jordanian knowledge base specialising in India and Asia. Such recommendations move the discussion from the question of how to improve relations to a more precise one: What exactly does Jordan want from this relationship, in which sectors, through which instruments, and according to what priorities?
This is precisely where think tanks and research centres—and what is known in international relations as Track II diplomacy—become important. Official diplomacy remains indispensable, but it cannot by itself explore every opportunity or test alternative scenarios and policy options. Research centres and universities can provide a space where diplomats, economists, business leaders, researchers, and technology experts meet, turning dispersed information into concrete policy options from which decision-makers can choose.
The issue extends beyond think tanks. Jordanian universities possess a considerable body of master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, and academic research in international relations, political science, economics, and history. Yet much of this knowledge remains confined to libraries and databases, despite its potential value to state institutions seeking to understand the countries, markets, and political and social transformations with which Jordan must engage.
One conclusion worth building upon, therefore, is the need to institutionalise the relationship between knowledge and decision-making. This should involve not only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, think tanks, and universities, but also the ministries of planning, industry and trade, and labour, as well as chambers of commerce and industry, investment institutions, researchers, and experts. Such cooperation could take the form of regular consultations, policy labs, concise policy briefs, databases of experts and research, and specialised research teams focused on priority files.
In a world where alliances, markets, and technologies are changing at extraordinary speed, successful foreign policy can no longer be built on impressions or reactive responses alone. Increasingly, it is a knowledge-based process: gathering information, analysing the strategic environment, developing scenarios, assessing interests and risks, and translating all of this into policy alternatives and decisions. From this perspective, the value of the Jordan–India study lies not only in what it tells us about India, but also in the model it offers for how academic research and policymaking should interact in Jordan.