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In a significant move ahead of the G20 summit just eight days later, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar is on a two-day bilateral visit to Russia.
In a significant move ahead of the G20 summit just eight days later, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar is on a two-day bilateral visit to Russia. He is expected to meet Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday.
The G20 summit is scheduled to take place in Indonesia’s Bali from November 15-16. The meeting holds significance as it will be the first time western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, will meet since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in February.
India has so far carefully maintained its non-aligned position on the issue while asking both nations to resolve issues through diplomacy and dialogue.
Dr Jaishankar is also at the forefront of shutting down the western media, which tried to take the moral high ground while blaming India for buying Russian oil.
Confirming that Dr Jaishankar will meet Lavrov on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated, “The Russian-Indian relations bear the character of a special and privileged strategic partnership. Effective interaction mechanisms have been formed between the two countries over the past decades.”
“The key areas of cooperation with India are the further intensification of the political dialogue in a bilateral format and on international platforms, promotion of economic, financial, energy, military-technical, humanitarian, scientific and technical cooperation,” the ministry stated.
Giving details of the agenda, the Russian ministry said, “The Ministers will discuss ways to further advance joint work in the key areas, as well as compare notes on the schedule of upcoming contacts. The talks will focus on trade and investments, transport and logistics, the use of national currencies in mutual settlements, as well as promising projects in the energy sector, especially in the Arctic shelf and the Russian Far East.”
“They will exchange assessments of the current international issues with an emphasis on interaction within the UN, SCO, G20 and RIC. The Ministers will also discuss India’s presidency in the SCO, efforts to fight terrorism, as well as a number of regional issues, including the formation of security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region, the situation around the Iranian nuclear problem, state of affairs in Afghanistan, Syria, and Ukraine,” the ministry said.
Highlighting India and Russia’s close relationship, especially in modern times, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, “Russia and India stand for the active formation of a more just and equal polycentric world order, and proceed from the inadmissibility of promoting the imperialist diktat on the global arena. Both countries demonstrate the proximity of their positions on the most pressing issues and stand for the adherence to the universally recognised norms of international law, enshrined in the UN Charter. We are aimed at promoting a unifying agenda and building a constructive dialogue in the field of interstate relations.”
The visit is also expected to lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country later this year. The visit also holds significance as Russia became India’s largest oil supplier last month. According to reports, the Kremlin now supplies almost 22 per cent of India’s total crude imports, beating the likes of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
