‘Your visit made us understand…’: Jaishankar to Ukrainian counterpart Kuleba

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday held “open and wide-ranging” talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba. S Jaishankar said that India and Ukraine have had interactions at various levels in recent months which have created certain momentum in the bilateral relationship.
“In recent months, we have had interactions at various levels, I am glad to see some of our bilateral mechanisms have also met and this has created certain momentum in our bilateral relationship. Today, after this discussion, we look forward also to the meeting of the intergovernmental commission. Your visit gives us an opportunity to understand the situation in your own region…Our teams have prepared a very substantial agenda for discussions,” news agency ANI quoted the union minister as saying.
Ukraine foreign minister Kuleba, who arrived in New Delhi on Thursday, is on a two-day visit to India. His visit comes amid efforts to seek a peaceful resolution to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Kuleba said that the relationship between India and Ukraine has a strategic perspective. Being traditional friends, both countries can do and should do in the interest of global development and security architecture.
“India and Ukraine have been traditional friends, but I think there is much more that we can do and should do, not only in the interest of our nations but also in the interest of global development and security architecture. We will be looking forward to restoring what existed before the large-scale invasion of Russia and Ukraine began. We will be looking forward to discussing new areas and projects of our cooperation because I do believe that this relationship has a strategic perspective,” he said.
Both the leaders also held discussions and exchanged perspectives on various domains including trade, health, science and technology and agriculture cooperation. Both the nations also agreed to prepare for the 7th IGC meeting later this year.
“Pleased to co-chair the review meeting of our Inter-Governmental Commission with FM @DmytroKuleba of Ukraine. Noted the importance of further strengthening cooperation in all domains. Our immediate goal is to get trade back to earlier levels. Perspectives on trade, health, S&T and agriculture cooperation shared today were useful. We agreed to prepare for the 7th IGC meeting later this year,” Jaishankar said in a post on X.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held telephonic conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and asserted that dialogue and diplomacy were the way forward for the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
PM Modi spoke to Putin to congratulate him for winning a fifth term in office and followed it up with a phone call to Zelensky to convey India’s “consistent support” for all efforts for peace and bringing an early end to the ongoing conflict.
During the conversation, the Ukrainian president thanked India for its support for his country’s sovereignty and said that it would be important for Kyiv to see New Delhi attend the inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland.
Earlier, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal asserted India’s stand on Russia-Ukraine war saying that the conflict could be resolved via dialogue and diplomacy.
“Our position is very clear on peace initiatives and how we look at the Ukraine-Russia conflict. We continue to encourage peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy and remain open to engaging all ways and means that would help achieve this objective,” Jaiswal had said on a query on India’s position on the peace conference in Switzerland.
The peace formula proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022 follows 10 principles aimed at ensuring a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
(With inputs from agencies)