Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday pledged to provide all support to restore peace in Ukraine in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
In a joint statement issued after talks between Modi who is on an official visit to Ukraine and Zelenskyy the former underlined New Delhi’s willingness to contribute in all possible ways to facilitate an early return of peace.
“Prime Minister Modi reiterated the need for sincere and practical engagement between all stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that will have broad acceptability and contribute towards early restoration of peace,” the statement said.
Both the leaders also reiterated their readiness for cooperation in upholding principles of international law such as respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of states.
India once again called for peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy and said that it attended the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held in Burgenstock, Switzerland, in June to achieve this end.
“T
he Ukrainian side conveyed that the Joint Communique on a Peace Framework, adopted at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, could serve as a basis for further efforts to promote just peace based on dialogue, diplomacy, and international law,” the joint statement added.
The Ukrainian President highlighted the importance of high-level Indian participation in the next Peace Summit while appreciating its participation in the first summit.
“The leaders appreciated various efforts to ensure global food security, including Ukrainian humanitarian grain initiative. The importance of uninterrupted and unhindered supply of agricultural products to global markets, especially in Asia and Africa, was emphasized,” the statement said.
They also appreciated the steady and positive track of bilateral ties and hailed regular engagements between India and Ukraine at various levels in enhancing mutual understanding, trust, and cooperation.
Modi and Zelenskyy explored ways of deepening cooperation in trade and commerce, agriculture,
pharmaceuticals, defence, education, science and technology, and culture.
Digital public infrastructure, industry, manufacturing and green energy are the other areas where greater involvement of business and industry from both nations was deliberated upon during the talks.
Both the sides also explored possible expansion of defence cooperation and agreed “to continue to work towards facilitating a stronger relationship between the defence entities in both countries, including through joint collaborations and partnerships for manufacturing in India and cooperation in emerging areas.” Modi’s Ukraine visit assumes importance as New Delhi has so far desisted from openly condemning Russian military operation in Ukraine and instead called for resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
Recent Russian visit of Modi had also triggered concerns in the West and Ukrainian leadership had also expressed their dismay.
Source: Kuwait News Agency