ORF Middle East

.@orf_middleeast and @orfonline signed an MoU with the UAE Embassy (@UAEembassyIndia) in India to host the inaugural edition of Raisina Middle East on January 28-29, 2025. The institutions are delighted to take this significant step forward in fostering greater regional cooperation and dialogue. @aj_alshaali @samirsaran @raisinadialogue

Training #ChatGPT-4 cost over US$100 million and running it costs roughly US$250 million every year. For #India, the AI bottleneck is the #economics of keeping them running. In this Commentary by @orfonline, Ishita Deshmukh explains why inference is now the defining challenge and that India's path forward is to design #AI infrastructure around local realities. Read here: orfme.org/research/ais-n…

The year 2025 presented manifold opportunities and challenges for #India's progress on the world stage. The 5th edition of the ‘Foreign Policy Survey 2025: Young India and the Middle East’ by @orfonline, captures the views of India's urban youth on core issues of India's #foreign policy. While new partnerships and growing #economic prowess characterised India's growth story, the survey reveals that the country was also confronted by the return of critical challenges posed by cross-border #terrorism and the realignments underway in long-standing partnerships. Harsh V. Pant, @DrNilanjanG, @sayantan_h, @Shivam05S, @KabirTaneja, @DeoSahil Read the survey here: orfonline.org/research/forei…

@unu Read the takeaways: orfme.org/research/rever…

@orfmiddleeast, in collaboration with @UNU-INWEH, co-hosted an online panel discussion on "Reverberating Effects for Fertilizer, Food, and Water Security in Times of Conflict". The conversation is a part of the contribution to the UN Water Conference Academic Hub. Watch the full video here: youtube.com/watch?v=UWezbb… @JoeGlauber1, @Shruti794, @IFPRI, @orfonline, @orfmiddleeast

For decades, #Gulf states have built their #watersecurity strategy around the threat of drought. #Military attacks on water infrastructure were never part of the equation. Mohammed Mahmoud, Middle East Climate and Water Policy Lead at @UNUINWEH, and CEO of the Climate and Water Initiative explains how military strikes have opened a completely new frontier in water security planning, and why they now sit alongside extreme weather as a structural risk for the region. Watch here: youtube.com/shorts/c7zVesI…

Read the quarterly here: orfme.org/research/orf-g…

A year into Donald #Trump's second term, the international order long underwritten by the #UnitedStates is visibly under strain. In Chapter 2 of ORF Global Quarterly "Disruption and Recalibration", @SinGulfura explains how "America First" has functioned as a structural force, and what is being built in its place: orfme.org/expert-speak/b…

A clean #US victory against #Iran is not on the table. The most likely outcome is a partial, #transactional compromise that allows both sides to claim success without resolving the underlying strategic mistrust. ✍️: @My_name_is_Kam Read here: orfme.org/expert-speak/n…

The article is part of the Special Report "Shifting Sands: A Middle East in Conflict and Transition" by @orfmiddleeast. Read the full range of essays here: orfme.org/research/shift…

Read more: orfme.org/expert-speak/t…

The International #Energy Agency has described the #Hormuz closure as the most significant #oil shock in history. The disruption cuts across commodity markets in ways previous shocks did not, and repairing energy infrastructure across the #Gulf will take months, in some cases years. In our latest Expert Speak, @mannat_jaspal and Reem Sagahyroon explain why energy shortages will persist well beyond whatever #Washington and #Tehran announce next.

#Asia’s geopolitical realities constrain the possibility of forming a coordinated response to the crisis in the Strait of #Hormuz. ‘In the #MiddleEast, #Washington will face difficult choices, but for now its presence is expected to persist, offering temporary reassurance to Asian powers’ writes @KabirTaneja Read the Expert Speak: orfme.org/expert-speak/c…

For #Tehran, the #StraitofHormuz is a bargaining chip, bundled into a broader framework of #nuclear enrichment, sanctions relief, and regional #security. #Iran’s brief reopening of the Hormuz on a Friday evening was timed to exploit global #shipping’s dependence on business hours, ensuring no real movement could occur’ writes @SinGulfura. Read the Expert Speak here: orfme.org/expert-speak/a…

Recent disruptions from tensions in #Hormuz to insecurity in the Red Sea and Suez demonstrate how vulnerabilities can trigger cascading shocks across #energy #supplychains and global commodity markets. @orfmiddleeast, in partnership with @TheECSSR, organised an online panel discussion titled "Vulnerabilities in West Asia's Maritime Chokepoints: Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab, and the Suez Canal", where experts assessed how such risks are reshaping energy flows and supply chain resilience in an uncertain #geopolitical environment. @DirectorLawale, @ColbyAntonius, @JoshuaKrasna, @mannat_jaspal, @ssis_tweets, @energyintel, @NYUCGA Watch here: youtube.com/watch?v=VFaKCH…

The #MiddleEast crisis is exposing a deeper regional story where not all states enter periods of instability with the same #economic capacity to absorb shocks. Our latest Expert Speaks looks at how #fiscal strength, institutional resilience, and dependence on external markets are shaping diverging trajectories across the #MENA region. Read more: orfme.org/expert-speak/t…

@ParulBakshi_ Read more: orfme.org/expert-speak/c…

In our latest Expert Speak, @ParulBakshi_ explains how #India and the #UAE are scaling their #energy architecture and what still needs to happen domestically before any of it delivers on its promise.

The #UAE is already India’s third-largest trading partner and second-largest #export destination, with the relationship underpinned by energy at every layer. PM #Modi's May 2026 #AbuDhabi visit raised Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s (#ADNOC) Strategic Petroleum Reserve participation to a target of 30 million barrels, a near-fivefold increase, alongside a commitment to jointly develop strategic #gas reserves within India.

The paper is a part of a compendium titled “Policy Pathways for Food and Water Security in the MENA Region” by @orfmiddleeast and Rabdan Security and Defence Institute. Read the full range of essays here: orfme.org/research/polic…

The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (#CEPA), the Gulf's centralised governance capacity, and India's experience coordinating policy across dozens of states are institutional tools that could be redirected through a #WEFE lens to build something more durable than a trade agreement. Suparana Katyaini and Bassel Daher lay out what a WEFE-grounded cooperation framework between #India and the #Gulf actually looks like. Read here: orfme.org/expert-speak/i…