Jaishankar says Gaza situation 'foremost concern', India supports ceasefire 'as soon as possible'
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, at a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) at Riyadh Saudi Arabia, on Monday, termed the current situation in Gaza as of ‘foremost concern’.
India, he said, ‘condemns acts of terrorism and hostage taking’ and supported a ceasefire.
Israel and Gaza are in conflict since October 7 last year when armed Hamas gunmen raided parts of Israel and killed several innocents. Israel retaliated with massive missile strikes.
The Minister, who was co-chairing the first India–GCC joint ministerial meeting for a strategic dialogue said “we have consistently stood for a resolution of the Palestinian issue through a two-state solution”.
“The current situation in Gaza is now understandably our foremost concern,” said Jaishankar adding “we are deeply pained by the continuing death of innocent civilians. We support a ceasefire as soon as possible”.
Meanwhile at the meeting, India and GCC adopted a ’joint action plan’. Jaishankar said India looked forward to early conclusion to a free-trade agreement with the GCC and offered what he termed as ‘framework of 3Ps – People, Prosperity and Progress’.
The joint action plan covers activities in diverse areas including health, trade, security, agriculture and food security, transportation, energy, culture, amongst others, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Sheikh Mohammed Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, the current President GCC Ministerial Council was the other co-chair with Jaishankar.
The GCC is regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Some 90 lakh Indians live and work in these countries making the diaspora and important part of the outreach.
The GCC Secretariat in its statement said “investments of GCC countries in India reached approximately $6 billion in various projects”. There are substantial joint investment opportunities in renewable energy sectors, the GCC added.
EAM also had separate bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar and Foreign Ministers Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain, respectively.
Separate meetings with counterparts from Russia and Brazil
Jaishankar has two separate meetings with his counterparts from Russia and Brazil, Sergey Lavrov and Mauro Vieira, respectively.
Lavrov was in Riyadh to attend the Russia-GCC strategic dialogue. Jaishankar posted a picture of Lavrov and himself with a caption on X “a useful conversation with FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia today on the sidelines of the GCC meeting”.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also put out the picture on its Telegram channel through which it communicates with the media.
After the meeting Mauro Vieira, Jaishankar posted on X “discussed G20, BRICS and the Ukraine conflict”.
India, Brazil and China were the possible intermediaries to the conflict, named by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum Vladivostok last Thursday.
