E-Paper
Apprised President Xi of recents developments in bilateral ties: Jaishankar
Jaishankar met Xi along with other foreign ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Beijing
NEW DELHI:External affairs minister S Jaishankar met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday and apprised him about recent developments in bilateral ties.
Jaishankar met Xi along with other foreign ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Beijing. The meeting was held before the foreign ministers participated in a conclave in Tianjin.
“Apprised President Xi of the recent development of our bilateral ties. Value the guidance of our leaders in that regard,” Jaishankar said in a social media post, referring to his meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Monday.
Jaishankar also conveyed the greetings of President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Xi.
At their meeting on Monday, Jaishankar and Wang discussed ways to normalise bilateral relations after the four-year standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which ended last October.
Jaishankar told Wang that India and China must build on “good progress” in normalising their ties by addressing issues related to the border, including de-escalation, and avoiding “restrictive trade measures and roadblocks” to economic cooperation.
On Tuesday, Jaishankar also held separate meetings with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, with the focus on bilateral cooperation and the situation in West Asia.
These meetings were held on the margins of a SCO foreign ministers’ meeting in Tianjin.
“Reviewed our bilateral cooperation and global developments with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia in Tianjin this afternoon,” Jaishankar said on social media.
The two ministers also discussed the evolving regional security scenario, including the situation in West Asia, people familiar with the matter said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to travel to India later this year for the annual India-Russia summit, and preparations for the visit figured in the discussions.
Jaishankar and Araghchi also discussed the situation in West Asia.
“Good to catch up with FM @araghchi of Iran, this time on the sidelines of the SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Tianjin,” Jaishankar said on social media.
Jaishankar arrived in China on Monday for a two-day visit to attend the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting and to hold bilateral talks with Wang. This is his first visit to China since bilateral ties were hit by border skirmishes in the Ladakh sector of the LAC in April-May 2020.
