Also woos Saudi Arabia with new petroleum diplomacy, while trying to soothe a vexed US, in an interesting coordination effort between external and other ministries

India is finally plunging into the oil politics of the Gulf and West Asia. It sent a team of senior officials from the commerce ministry to Iran around a fortnight earlier, to clinch an oil-for-food deal. And, is beginning to woo the Sunni oil kingdoms in the region, led by none other than Saudi Arabia.

India and Bangladesh are set to make history when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh travels to Dhaka on September 5 and signs a land boundary agreement with Bangladeshi counterpart Hasina that finally fulfills the vision laid down by the Indira-Mujib accord of 1974.