Jaishankar welcomes greater Russian interest in Asia-Pacific

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 9

In the run-up to this year’s summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Valdimir Putin, Foreign Ministers of India and Russia on Friday discussed the Indo-Pacific, Afghanistan and vaccine certificates for foreign travel. They also reviewed the progress in their bilateral strong-points of defence, space, nuclear energy and petroleum.

Committed to centrality, unity of ASEAN

Because of larger geopolitical compatibility with Russia, we see a more active Russian presence and participation in the region as something very important. We are very much committed to the centrality and unity of ASEAN. S Jaishankar, external affairs minister

Need to check violence in Afghanistan

Concerned over violence in Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, “The immediate need is reduction in violence if we have to see peace within and around Afghanistan. It is important for India and Russia to work together to ensure that much of the progress on the economic, social and democratic front is maintained.”

Discussing the contentious topic of Indo-Pacific, where the shadow of Quad makes Russia uneasy, his counterpart Sergei Lavrov, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar invited Moscow to be a more active participant and assured that New Delhi’s endeavours would reflect the multi-polar and re-balanced character of politics.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Lavrov, Jaishankar noted that energy cooperation had grown significantly in the last few years, which reflected in new potential investments and long term commitments in the oil and gas sector. Defence and industrial collaboration has been strengthened, with Jaishankar pointing out that the Russian interest in the make-in-India programme was very visible.

The Foreign Ministers also discussed connectivity, especially the North-South corridor. “Overall, the sense of economic cooperation is very positive,” said Jaishankar. On regional and global issues, Jaishankar said India was poised to hold the presidency of the UN Security Council for August. He shared with Lavrov New Delhi’s plans for the month. Jaishankar said the Indo-Russian relationship had shown that though many things were changing as a result of Covid, “our time-tested and trust-based relationship remains strong and continues to grow”.