Ukraine war taking a toll: EAM in Moscow
NEW DELHI: India and Russia on Tuesday pledged to expand their trade and economic cooperation, including New Delhi’s oil purchases, as external affairs minister S Jaishankar reiterated India’s call for ending the war in Ukraine because of growing concerns among developing countries about food and energy security. Jaishankar, who was on his first visit to Moscow since Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine in February, held talks with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov and co-chaired a meeting of the Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation with Russian deputy prime minister Denis Manturov.
The commitment by the two sides to step up trade and economic engagement came amid continuing disquiet in Western countries over India’s purchase of discounted Russian oil and fertilisers. From accounting for just 0.2% of all the oil imported by India in the year ending in March 2022, Russia emerged the top supplier in October — with a 22% share of total crude imports — to elbow aside traditional suppliers Iraq and Saudi Arabia, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa. Indian officials, however, say Russia accounts for only about 12% of India’s energy imports.
Addressing a joint news conference with Lavrov after the first round of their talks, Jaishankar used his opening
remarks to reiterate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to end the war in Ukraine, an issue the Indian leader raised with Ruscountries, President Vladimir Putin at their meeting on the margins of the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan in September.
Jaishankar said the Ukraine conflict was a “dominant feature” of his discussions with Lavrov. “As Prime Minister Modi conveyed to President Putin in Samarkand in September, this is not an era of war...We are seeing growing concerns on energy and food security emanate from the conflict that are coming on top of severe stresses created by two years of Covid,” he said.