Quote:Of course, Russia and China are practitioners of the zen of creating synergy out of multilateral formats for enriching and strengthening their bilateral relationship, to harmonise divergences, if any, and to keep deepening their strategic convergence on regional and global issues.

India tends to take an ‘all-or-nothing’ attitude, which is unfortunate. Perhaps, one good thing to come out India’s participation in the RIC meeting today lies in the signalling of its growing awareness of the hidden charms of this unique format in a world in historic transition.

The way forward lies, arguably, in the three RIC countries undertaking some common projects in which all three become stakeholders in their shared future