Expressing concern over the developments in Afghanistan, India on Friday said it supported an inclusive and representative Government there and urged countries in the region to coordinate respective approaches to terrorism, radicalisation and drug trafficking.
Making this point here at the 18th meeting of the Russia, India, China (RIC) trilateral dialogue at the External Ministers’ level, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also said as a contiguous neighbour and long-standing partner of Afghanistan, India is concerned about the suffering of the Afghan people.
Participating in the meeting in the virtual format along with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov, he also said India supports other provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 2593.
India has offered a supply of 50,000 MT of wheat to Afghanistan to address the drought situation and said the RIC countries need to work together to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches the Afghan people without hindrance and without politicisation, Jaishankar said.
In his opening remarks, he said the agenda of the RIC meeting include the fight against Covid-19 pandemic, Reforms of the Multilateral System and International Hot-spot Issues.
Incidentally, he is the chairman of the grouping since September last year and handed over to the Chinese Minister after the day-long meet.
Jaishankar reaffirmed India’s continued commitment to foster closer dialogue and cooperation among the three largest nations in the Eurasian region under the RIC mechanism.
“I believe that our cooperation in areas like trade, investment, healthcare, education, science and technology, and politics could significantly contribute to global growth, peace and stability. This would be in line with our common ethos of recognising the “world as a family”. Our approach to global development should be human-centric and not leave anyone behind,” he said.
The Covid pandemic has shown the interdependence of an inter-connected world. The need of the hour is, therefore, “one earth one health”. That means a timely, transparent, effective and non-discriminatory international response to global health challenges including pandemics, with equitable and affordable access to medicines and critical health supplies, Jaishankar said.
Since joining the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member in January this year, India has been actively contributing to finding mutually acceptable solutions to international and regional issues. “We believe that a multi-polar and re-balanced world based on sovereign equality of nations and respect for international law and contemporary realities requires reformed multilateralism,” he said.
