News Analysis India

Tag: MEA

  • Jaishankar hopes for early resolution of all outstanding issues along LAC

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: A day after China criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for greeting Dalai Lama on his 87th birthday, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar met China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi in Bali, on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers meet.

    “Began my day in Bali by meeting FM Wang Yi of China. Discussion lasted one hour. Focused on specific outstanding issues in our bilateral relationship pertaining to the border situation. Also spoke about other matters including students and flights,” Dr Jaishankar said in a tweet.

    The two sides discussed resolving the border standoff that began in April 2020.

    The EAM called for an early resolution of all the outstanding issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. Recalling the disengagement achieved in some friction areas he reiterated the need to sustain the momentum to complete disengagement from all the remaining areas to restore peace and tranquility in the border areas, according to a statement released by the MEA.

    The last diplomatic level talks under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs (WMCC) took place on 31 May 2022. Jaishankar reiterated that the India-China relationship is best served by observing the three mutuals — mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests.

    Further, Jaishankar reaffirmed the importance of fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols and the understandings reached between the two ministers during their previous conversations. Both the ministers also affirmed that the military and diplomatic officials of the two sides should continue maintaining regular contact and looked forward to the next round of Senior Commanders’ meeting at an early date. 

    He also stressed the need to expedite the process of Indian students returning to China to complete their courses offline at an early date. “We also spoke about other matters including the return of students and flights,’’ tweeted Jaishankar.

    Meanwhile, India is taking over the G20 presidency in December this year and will host the G20 Summit in 2023. China had in the recent past objected to reports of India hosting some of the G20 events in Jammu and Kashmir. “A large number of G20 events will be held across India, there is no need to speculate where,” said MEA’s spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. 

    There are many events that are held before the summit. These include ministerial meetings, governmental meetings and some non-governmental meetings too. The venues of all these meetings can vary. Jaishankar, during the course of the day, also met his counterparts from Brazil, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia and Senegal.

  • Chinese companies operating in India need to follow law of land: MEA

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Chinese companies operating in India need to follow the law of the land, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday, a day after China reacted to the ongoing probe into alleged irregularities by Chinese smartphone maker Vivo.

    External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Indian authorities are taking steps in the case in accordance with the law of the land.

    “Chinese companies which operate here need to follow the law of the land and I think our legal authorities are taking steps as per the law of the land,” he said at a media briefing.

    Bagchi was asked to comment on remarks on the probe by a spokesman of the Chinese embassy. “I do not see the need to make such comments,” Bagchi said.

    The Enforcement Directorate is carrying out the investigation against Vivo under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

    The agency on Thursday said that a whopping Rs 62,476 crore has been “illegally” transferred by the smartphone maker to China in order to avoid payment of taxes in India.

    The Chinese embassy spokesperson said on Wednesday that the frequent investigations by Indian authorities into Chinese enterprises not only disrupt their normal business activities and damage their goodwill but also impede the business environment in India.

    “The essence of China-India economic and trade cooperation is for mutual benefit and win-win results,” Spokesman and Counsellor Wang Xiaojian said in a statement.

  • EAM Jaishankar holds ‘productive’ talks with Indonesian counterpart

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday held “productive” talks with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi with a focus on bilateral cooperation in several key areas including defence and security, trade and connectivity.

    The talks were held under the framework of the India-Indonesia Joint Commission.

    Marsudi is on a visit to India primarily to attend a foreign ministerial meeting of New Delhi and ASEAN member states that took place on Thursday.

    After the talks, Jaishankar said the two sides reviewed the entire gamut of ties under the India-Indonesia comprehensive strategic partnership. “Just concluded a productive 7th India-Indonesia Joint Commission Meeting with FM Retno Marsudi,” Jaishankar said on Twitter.

    “Reviewed entire gamut of our ties in our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with focus on political, defense & security, economic and trade, S&T and space, connectivity and p2p ties,” he said.

  • India, Spain agree to add new depth and content to ties

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Spain on Wednesday evinced interest in participating in India’s defence manufacturing sector even as the two countries expressed concern over the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

    In their wide-ranging talks, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his visiting Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares Bueno reiterated their commitment to closely work in countering common challenges of terrorism, violent extremism and cyber crime.

    The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Jaishankar and Albares committed to “add new depth and content to the relationship” and emphasised on the need to retain strategic focus on the Indo-Pacific and to promote collaborative efforts among like-minded nations. Albares is on a day-long visit to India.

    The MEA said there were detailed discussions focused on enhancing cooperation in the key priority areas of trade and investment, defence and security, climate change, green energy and science and technology.

    “The two leaders welcomed signing of the defence contract as part of which Airbus Spain will supply 56 C295 aircraft, 40 of which would be Made in India, and agreed to further deepen defence and security cooperation,” the MEA said in a statement.

    It said India welcomed Spain’s interest in participating in its national defence manufacturing programme through ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives.

    In September last year, India sealed a nearly Rs 21,000 crore deal with Airbus Defence and Space to procure 56 C-295 transport aircraft to replace the ageing Avro-748 planes of the IAF under a project that entails manufacturing of military aircraft in India for the first time by a private company.

    “Warm and productive discussions with Foreign Minister @jmalbares of Spain. Discussed our growing engagements in political,defense, economic and cultural domains. Envisage enhanced collaboration to support self reliance and resilient supply chains,” Jaishankar tweeted.

    On his part, Albares described India as a global power and an important partner of Spain.

    In a tweet in Spanish, he said the meeting with Jaishankar was excellent and that both sides will continue to work to deepen the bilateral relations and signed a declaration for cultural and academic cooperation.

    The MEA said Jaishankar and Albares welcomed the growing bilateral trade and investment linkages and agreed to expand them in new areas of common interest.

    “They agreed that there are more opportunities in sectors like IT, pharma and renewable and there are new and unexplored emerging areas like green hydrogen, electric mobility, advanced materials, deep sea exploration where the two countries can collaborate further,” it said.

    It said the two ministers also exchanged views on a number of regional and global issues of mutual interest and noted the mutual understanding and support in addressing common challenges like climate change, global health, sustainable development and counter-terrorism. They welcomed the restart of India-EU FTA negotiations later this month.

    On Ukraine, the two ministers expressed their concern on the ongoing humanitarian crisis and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

    On Afghanistan, both sides highlighted the need for Afghanistan to have unhindered access to humanitarian assistance and that Afghan territory is not used by terror outfits for destabilising the region.

    The MEA said the two sides agreed to explore collaboration in development partnership and economic activities in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

  • Remarks do not reflect views of government: MEA on controversial comments on Prophet

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Iranian foreign ministry has removed from an official readout some portions relating to Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s conversation with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on the issue of controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad.

    The visiting Iranian foreign minister and the NSA held talks on Wednesday covering a wide range of issues including trade, connectivity, counter-terror cooperation and the situation in Afghanistan.

    The Iranian readout on Abdollahian’s talks with Doval said the foreign minister raised the issue of the controversy triggered by the comments on Prophet Mohammad and that he was satisfied by the NSA’s response.

    Asked at a media briefing about the readout including comments attributed to Doval that wrongdoers will be dealt with in a way that is a lesson for others, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said he would not like to comment on the conversation between Doval and Abdollahian.

    At the same time, he said: “My understanding is that what you are referring to in a readout has been pulled down. Even if it is I do not want to get into what was said or not.” The revised readout on the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s website only carries a brief paragraph on the issue as against long references to it in the previous statement.

    It said the NSA reiterated the respect of the Indian government and officials for the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and that the matter will be “treated as a lesson for others.” The earlier statement had elaborate details on the issue.

    “Pleased to meet PM Modi, FM Jaishankar & other Indian officials to advance our bilateral strategic dialogue. Tehran & New Delhi agree on the need to respect divine religions & Islamic sanctities & to avoid divisive statements,” Abdollahian tweeted on Wednesday.

    Asked whether the Iranian foreign minister raised the issue of controversial remarks on the Prophet in his talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Bagchi suggested that it was not brought up. “My understanding was that this issue was not raised during that conversation,” he said.

    On the strong reaction to the comments by the Arab world, Bagchi said the government has made it clear that the remarks do not reflect the views of the government. “We have made it pretty clear that tweets and comments do not reflect views of government,” Bagchi said at a media briefing.

    “This has been conveyed to our interlocutors as also the fact that action has been taken by the concerned quarters against those who made the comments and tweets. I really do not think I have anything additional to say on this,” he said.

    The BJP on Sunday suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and the party’s Delhi unit media head Naveen Jindal for allegedly making derogatory comments.

    Abdollahian’s visit to India came days after Iran joined Kuwait and Qatar in summoning the Indian ambassadors over the remarks by Sharma and Jindal.

    Since then, several countries including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Bahrain, Maldives, Malaysia, Oman, Iraq and Libya denounced the comments.

    Asked about reports that India has asked its ambassadors to reach out to authorities in their respective countries of postings to apprise them on the issue, Bagchi said the envoys regularly brief their interlocutors on issues and concerns of the day. “They are also in regular touch with the headquarters,” he said.

    Asked whether Jaishankar and Abdollahian discussed the issue of crude oil, Bagchi did not give a direct reply. He, however, referred to Jaishankar’s public remarks earlier where he highlighted the absence of oil from Iran and Venezuela and said it has made it more difficult for India to meet its energy security needs.

    The crisis in Ukraine and the situation in Afghanistan were among the key issues that figured in the talks Abdollahian had with Jaishankar.

  • India to host ASEAN foreign ministers next week

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India will host the foreign ministers of ASEAN nations from June 16 to 17 to mark the 30th anniversary of its relations with the 10-nation grouping.

    External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Myanmar’s participation at the ASEAN-India foreign ministers’ meeting would be based on the rules of the grouping, which is seen as an indication that the country’s foreign minister is unlikely to be in New Delhi.

    The position of the ASEAN on engaging Myanmar at multilateral forums following the military coup in that country last year has been that it should be at the non-political level.

    “India will host the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SAIFMM) on June 16 to 17 to mark the 30th anniversary of our dialogue relations and the 10th anniversary of our strategic partnership with the ASEAN,” Bagchi said at a media briefing.

    He said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan will co-chair the meeting.

    The foreign minister of Singapore is India’s country coordinator in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

    Bagchi said foreign ministers of other ASEAN member states and the ASEAN secretary-general will participate in the SAIFMM. The year 2022 has been designated as the ASEAN-India friendship year.

    Asked about Myanmar’s participation, Bagchi said it would be as per the ASEAN rules. There were indications that India is unlikely to invite the Myanmarese foreign minister for the meeting and instead would invite an official.

    On February 1 last year, Myanmar’s military grabbed power in the coup and imposed a state of emergency after detaining Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD). The country witnessed massive protests following the coup. The international community has been severely critical of the coup.

    ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of sectoral partnership in 1992 which graduated to full dialogue partnership in December 1995, Summit level Partnership in 2002, and strategic partnership in 2012.

    “Today, ASEAN-India strategic partnership stands on a strong foundation. The ASEAN is central to India’s Act East Policy and its vision for the wider Indo-Pacific,” Bagchi said.

    “This multi-faceted partnership encompasses many sectoral dialogue mechanisms and working groups that meet regularly at various levels and include annual summit, ministerial and senior officials’ meetings,” he said.

    The ongoing India-ASEAN collaboration is guided by the Plan of Action 2021-2025 which was adopted in 2020.

    While ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM), hosted by the ASEAN Chair is an annual event, the SAIFMM would be the first ASEAN-India FMM to be hosted by India in New Delhi.

    The SAIFMM will be preceded by 24th ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting on June 15. The SAIFMM will be accompanied by the 12th edition of Delhi Dialogue, a premier Track 1.5 Dialogue in the ASEAN-India calendar, which will be hosted by India on June 16-17.

  • India distances itself from derogatory remarks made on Prophet by fringe element

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: India has issued a clarification and distanced itself from offensive tweets that someone made on Prophet Mohammad, on Sunday.

    Taking objection to what appeared on social media, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar summoned the Indian envoy Ambassador Deepak Mittal.

    Qatars’ Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, handed Ambassador Mittal a note expressing disappointment and condemned the remarks.

    In response, India has said that the tweets do not reflect the views of the Indian government and are of fringe elements.

    Qatar has welcomed the statement by the Indian government announcing the suspension of party officials from making such statements which have hurt the sentiments of more than 2 billion Muslims across the world.

    Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has stated that with India’s civilisational heritage and strong cultural traditions of unity in diversity, the government accords the highest respect to all religions. “We should work together against such mischievous elements who aim to undercut the strength of our bilateral ties,” according to the MEA statement.

  • Looking forward to next round of military talks soon: MEA on eastern Ladakh row

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said it is looking forward to the next round of military talks with China at an early date for the resolution of the remaining issues in eastern Ladakh.

    The comments by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi came two days after the two sides held diplomatic talks on the lingering border standoff.

    “I am not aware of any particular date that I can share with you at this point, but I would like to emphasise that we look forward to this commanders’ meeting at an early date,” Bagchi said.

    In the diplomatic talks on Tuesday, India and China agreed to hold the next round of the Senior Commanders’ meeting soon to achieve complete disengagement from all friction points in eastern Ladakh.

    After the talks, the MEA said it was agreed to hold the next round of military talks at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols.

    The standoff began in early May of 2020.

    As a result of the military talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.

    India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC are key for the overall development of the bilateral ties.

    Asked about media reports of back-channel talks between India and Pakistan, Bagchi said he would not comment on speculative reports.

    He said India desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan in a conducive atmosphere, free of terror, hostilities and violence.

    On India’s trade ties with Pakistan, he said New Delhi never felt that trade relations should be stopped.

  • India fully supportive of Sri Lanka’s democracy, stability and economic recovery: MEA

    Bagchi also mentioned the assistance India provided to help Sri Lanka deal with the economic crisis.

  • Despite political differences, Priyanka Chaturvedi supported govt stand on oil purchasing from Russia

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Despite political differences, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi came out in support of India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar’s remark on the issue of oil purchasing from Russia given during the 2+2 ministerial talks at Washington.

    Jaishankar had categorically said, “If you are looking at (India’s) energy purchases from Russia, I would suggest your attention should be on Europe. We buy some energy necessary for our energy security. But I suspect, looking at figures, purchase for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon.”

    Sharing these lines of Jaishankar’s remark through her Twitter handle, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi described the remark as ‘superb’ from External Affair Minister putting an emoji of applause.

    Jaishankar’s remarks came at a time when many countries including the US, have imposed multiple sanctions on Russia for being in a war against Ukraine.

    Speaking to this newspaper, Chaturvedi on late Tuesday evening said, “Party (Shiv Sena) stands by India at international forums. Country’s interest comes first for us in politics.” Giving thumbs-up to EAM for his brilliant remarks, she further said that the opposition has come together on this issue. “Remember, the opposition has come together on this issue as was obvious in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha discussions on the Ukraine crisis,” she added.

    She also said, “Our differences were with regards to the evacuation of the students stranded in war-hit Ukraine, but as far as the policy for energy security is needed, we are all aligned on the issue.”