Strategic autonomy requires India to maintain good relations with the US, keep the doors of dialogue with China open, preserve its ties with Russia despite facing US and European pressures to reduce our energy and defence ties with it, assure its energy security for which ties with the Gulf countries remain most important, maintain links with Iran, especially in the light of the re-distribution of power in West Asia, and, with the fragmentation of the global trading system, pursue bilateral free trade agreements with key countries.