EAM Jaishankar Meets US Secretary Of State Blinken, Discuss Ukraine Conflict, G20 Priorities, And China

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday (2 March) held bilateral talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken focusing on bilateral ties and pressing global issues including the Ukraine conflict.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the India-hosted G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in the national capital.

“Pleased to meet US Secretary of State @SecBlinken on #G20FMM sidelines. Opportunity to review bilateral ties and discuss global issues,” Jaishankar tweeted.

It is understood that the talks covered the Ukraine conflict and India's priorities for the G20 summit. The two countries likely exchanged views on their approach to dealing with China, which both Washington DC and New Delhi consider a primary national security threat.

India is currently engaged in a tense standoff with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on the Line of Actual Control, while tensions have been high between the US and China over issues such as the spy balloon and Taiwan.

Blinken arrived in the national capital on Wednesday night to attend the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting that took place amid a bitter rift between the West and the Russia-China combine over the Ukraine conflict.

Blinken is set to attend a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting on Friday.

After attending the first session of the G20 meeting Blinken tweeted: ”I went to the #G20 today with two imperatives: First, to ensure that the G20 — with India at the helm — advances our shared goals, and second, to demonstrate how the US, together with our partners, is acting to meet the needs of the world. We succeeded at both.”

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies.

The members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union (EU).

The Jaishankar-Blinken meeting comes ahead of a possible state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US later this year.

According to a Reuters report from February this year, the Biden administration is currently in discussions with Indian officials regarding a potential visit to the White House by Prime Minister Modi later this year.

With inputs from PTI