Page 5 - The indian EYE 050622

BIG STORY MAY 06, 2022 | The Indian Eye 5

Modi interacts with US President Joe Biden during the Build Black Better for the World (B3W) event President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen meets
at COP26 Summit last year Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar

von der Leyen on Monday praised In- when, as he said, the civil society in Af- disruptions. ters – from Norway and Luxembourg.
dia for being a ‘powerhouse’ in tech- ghanistan was thrown under the bus. Jaishankar had in February list- “Let’s see this in the right context. We
nology and termed its relationship “There are equally pressing is- ed NATO’s expansion as one of the all need to find some way of return-
with the country as one of the most sues in other parts of the world like reasons for the situation in Ukraine ing to diplomacy and dialogue and to
important for the coming decade. Afghanistan and challenges in Asia… and later slammed the West, in the do that the fighting must stop. That’s
This comes as PM Modi and when rules-based order was under presence of UK Foreign secretary what we are trying to do,’’ said the
the EU chief held bilateral talks in threat in Asia, the advice we got from Elizabeth Truss, for questioning In- minister further.
New Delhi on Monday, where they Europe was to do more trade. At least dia’s oil imports from Russia when Jaishankar was addressing a ses-
reviewed progress in the India-EU we are not giving you that advice. On Europe itself bought 15 percent more sion at the Raisina Dialogue which
strategic partnership and agreed to Afghanistan, please tell me which part energy from Russia in March than in saw participation by many European
deepen cooperation in areas of trade, of the rules-based order justifies what February. The pushback against Eu- foreign ministers. Without naming
climate, digital technology, and peo- the world did there,’’ said Jaishankar, rope, for its indifference in the past China, he made it obvious that Eu-
ple-to-people ties. “India is techno- as he made the point that no country to Chinese expansionism, on Tuesday rope had been insensitive in the past
logically a powerhouse, and in the wanted to see the practical conse- was perhaps more significant though to security threats emanating from
trade sector, we need to unleash an quences of the conflict like higher en- as it came in response to questions China’s conduct in Asia, including on
enormous amount of untapped po- ergy prices, food inflation and other by at least 2 European foreign minis- the border issue with India as he said
tential,” von der Leyen said. this was a region where boundaries
“For the European Union, the have not been settled.
partnership with India is one of our “There has been a lot of argu-
most important relationships for the ments from Europe saying things are
coming decade and strengthening this happening in Europe and Asia should
partnership is a priority”, she added. be worried about it because these
Marking the 60th anniversary of the could happen in Asia. Guess what,
India-EU relationship and meeting things have been happening in Asia
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on for the past 10 years. Europe may
the occasion, the EU chief said, “I am not have looked at it. This could be
very happy to visit India and to see a wakeup call for Europe not just in
you again, Prime Minister. It is the Europe but a wakeup call to also look
60th anniversary of relations between at Asia. This is where boundaries have
the EU and India.” not been settled, where terrorism is
“Today, our relationship is more still practiced and often sponsored
important than ever. We have so by states…rules-based order here has
much in common,” she added. been under continuous threat. It’s not
Ursula von der Leyen also met that the problems are going to hap-
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S pen, the problems have been happen-
Jaishankar on Monday and discussed ing for 10 years,’’ said the minister, as
ways to take the India-EU partner- he spoke about India and other coun-
ship forward and exchanged views on tries looking to find the right “balance
the impact of the Ukraine conflict. of interests’’.
But S Jaishankar Tuesday panned As the western world try very hard
Europe for questioning India’s Rus- to drag India into their conflict with
sia-Ukraine policy as he remined the Russia over Ukraine, India is likely to
Europeans that they were not actually perform a balancing act, which could
bending over backwards to address be quite tough. But at the moment,
India’s concerns when the rules-based Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin at their meeting in January India seems to stand firm, refusing to
order was under threat in Asia or take sides in this conflict.

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