Professional Affiliation

Advisor to the Foreign Minister of Panama and Asia-Latin America Expert, UNDP

Expert Bio

Hari Seshasayee is and Advisor to the Foreign Minister of Panama and Asia-Latin America Expert, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He is also a visiting fellow of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). He specializes in India's foreign policy, Latin American political economy, trade and energy security. He previously worked with ProColombia, Gateway House, and the Confederation of Indian Industry. He has an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Stanford University, tweets at @haricito and can be reached at harisesh@alumni.stanford.edu

Expertise

• Democracy
• Economics and Globalization
• Energy
• International Development

Wilson Center Project

India-Venezuela Relations: A Case Study in Oil Diplomacy

Project Summary

In a new report, Mumbai-based researcher Hari Seshasayee offers an in-depth analysis of Indian-Venezuelan relations, explaining how—unlike Russia or China—India is an invaluable commercial partner for Venezuela but not an ideological or political ally. Venezuela’s declining production levels and additional pressure from the United States may negatively affect India’s willingness to trade with Venezuela in the short term. But in the long run, given India’s demand for oil and the size of Venezuela’s oil reserves, Seshasayee sees the fortunes of both countries as inescapably tied together.

Major Publications

• India-Venezuela Relations: A Case Study in Oil Diplomacy (Wilson Center)
• How to Avoid the Primarization of Trade (Inter-American Development Bank)
• Recasting South- South Links: Indo– Latin American Relations (Brookings Institution Press)