External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday over the phone and discussed global and regional matters. Jaishankar described the conversation warm as always with Blinken. He also added that both sides took note of the steady progress in their bilateral relations. Earlier in March, both Jaishankar and Blinken had met where they took part in discussions on how to mitigate the global impacts of the ongoing Russia-Ukarine war. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi.
During the meeting, Blinken spoke to Jaishankar and shared his views on how to tackle global and regional challenges.
A warm conversation, as always with US Secretary of State @SecBlinken this morning.
Discussed current regional and global issues. Noted the steady progress in our bilateral ties.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 16, 2023
In an official statement, US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said that Blinken met with Jaishankar to discuss how India and the US can work towards the expansion of technology and defence cooperation in order to increase food energy and health security, reported news agency ANI.
Ned also said Blinken and Jaishankar discussed the efforts required to elevate and expand strategic technology and defence industrial cooperation and promote food, energy, and global health security.
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The discussions between the two leaders also focussed on promoting clean energy transition, counternarcotics cooperation and women’s economic empowerment, as reported by ANI.
On Blinken’s India visit, he attended the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Quad Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue that took place in New Delhi.
Earlier, Blinken said, “PM Modi is right that there are challenges to the multilateral system. And those challenges in many ways are coming directly from Russia which is violating the principles that lie at the heart of that system,” reported ANI.
He blamed Russia for the problem of the multilateralism system. He said, “We see that playing out at the UN, two countries blocking,” as quoted by ANI.
