Jakarta
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday. The meeting between the two leaders took place outside the ASEAN meeting to be held here. Jaishankar said in a tweet that between him and Lavrov there were bilateral economic issues and matters related to the Ukraine crisis. Jaishankar also held meetings with his counterparts from the ASEAN countries on Thursday and discussed the progress in fintech to cooperation in the food sector and naval affairs.
📆 On July 13, FM Lavrov met with Minister of External Affairs of India @DrSJaishankar.
🇷🇺🤝🇮🇳 The Parties discussed a range of topical issues concerning #RussiaIndia relations & cooperation in various fields.
🔗https://t.co/OiXf8cQgyJ pic.twitter.com/OPwwbR0PHK
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) July 13, 2023
It is worth noting that in June, Jaishankar met Lavrov during the BRICS summit in South Africa. For the past few months, India has become the country that buys the cheapest crude oil from Russia. This happened despite the displeasure of Western countries in the background of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. India has not yet condemned Russia for its attack on Ukraine. Earlier, Jaishankar met Singapore’s Indian-origin Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and mentioned the progress made in compliance with the overall strategic alliance. External Affairs Minister Jaishankar tweeted, “A warm and meaningful meeting of ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers was held this morning. Thanks to Vivian Bala for co-chairing with me. noted the progress made in compliance with the overall strategic alliance.”
He said, “Discussed focusing more on areas like digital, fintech, food security and shipping. Exchanged views on the situation in Myanmar.” Jaishankar said that the meeting with Vivian Bala was pleasant and there was a good discussion on the current global situation and challenges. Foreign Minister Jaishankar also met his Bruneian counterpart, Dato Iraiwan Pehin Yusuf. Jaishankar tweeted, “Meet Brunei’s Foreign Minister Dato Iraiwan Pehin Yusuf outside the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ meeting. Our bilateral cooperation is continuously growing. Focused on increasing trade.”, Thailand, Vietnam included.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) an important pillar of India’s Act East policy. He said that ASEAN plays an important role in advancing the Indo-Pacific. At the opening session of the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference in Jakarta, the Foreign Minister said, ‘ASEAN is an important pillar of India’s East East policy and comprehensive vision of the Indo-Pacific. It plays an important role in advancing the Indo-Pacific.’ He said that India strongly supports ASEAN.
Met with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia in Jakarta today.
Discussed bilateral economic issues, as also matters pertaining to the Ukraine conflict. pic.twitter.com/FKoppTws8J
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) July 13, 2023
Jaishankar said, ‘We want to strengthen mutual cooperation as a strategic partner as well as include new areas in ASEAN. Especially in cyber, financial and maritime security domains.’ During this, he recalled how the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations was celebrated last year. The foreign minister said that we focused on all dimensions of the partnership, including the meeting of foreign ministers in Delhi, the exchange of parliamentary delegations, artist camps, music festivals and defence ministers’ meetings.
