External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov met in New Delhi on Tuesday, 6 April, and discussed various aspects of bilateral ties including defence and nuclear cooperation.
“We talked about our long-standing partnership in nuclear, space, and defence sectors. We also discussed our rapidly expanding energy cooperation and exchanged views on regional, global matters,” Jaishankar said addressing a joint conference after the meeting.
Lavrov said Russia was satisfied with the outcome of the talks and said, “By the way, we have heard speculation about pro-military alliances not only with respect to Russia and China relations, but we have also heard about such alliances allegedly being promoted such as Middle East-NATO, Asia-NATO. Today we exchanged views on this and our Indian friends have the same position as we. We believe that this is counter productive,"
Amid signs of a revival in peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, Jaishankar said that the duo also held talks on the countries’ approach to Afghanistan. “I shared our viewpoint on the Indo-Pacific,” he added.
“One question on which we spend some time is the unfolding developments in and around Afghanistan... For India, what happens in Afghanistan impacts its security directly.”Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister.
Maintaining that much of the discussion between the two parties had centred on preparations for President Putin's visit for the annual summit later this year, Dr Jaishankar they had discussed “longstanding partnership in nuclear space and defence sectors.”
“We assess positively our economic cooperation noting new opportunities in the Russian far east. We spoke of connectivity including the International North-South Transport Corridor and Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime Corridor,” he added.
Speaking during the delegation-level talk with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Jaishankar said that the dialogue between the two powers would be conducted in a spirit befitting two ‘close partners’.
“This year marks the 22nd year of our strategic partnership and the 12th year of our special and privileged strategic partnership. So, I’m sure that many of our conversations would be conducted in that spirit as very close partners.”Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Union External Affairs Minister
Responding to Jaishankar, Lavrov said that the two countries are “tied through a strategic partnership and at the heart of our partnership is the long-lived friendship between our nations and proximity of our stance on relevant international issues and our friendship.”
Lavrov had arrived in New Delhi for his official visit on Monday, 5 April.
According to news agency PTI, Lavrov was slated to hold talks with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on 5 and 6 April, following which he will leave for Pakistan, where he will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
The India-Russia annual summit was postponed in 2020, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI.)
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