Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov held discussions with Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on the margins of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and related events in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday.
Jaishankar said that discussions with Lavrov focussed on “bilateral economic issues” as well as to “matters pertaining to the Ukraine conflict”.
Bilateral trade between India and Russia surged to an all-time high of $45 billion in the 2022-23 financial year (FY), thanks to a surge in Russian crude exports to India amid a global volatility in commodity prices.
Russia exported around 32 million tonnes of crude to India last year, and has emerged as the biggest oil supplier to New Delhi this year.
Both the governments have backed the diversification of trade basket by increasing Indian exports to Russia to address the “trade imbalance” issues.
As means to address economic issues, New Delhi and Moscow are involved in negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty and an India-Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) free trade pact.
With regards to Ukraine, New Delhi has refused to buckle under pressure from western governments to vote against Russia at the United Nations (UN).
At the same time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for “dialogue and diplomacy” as a way to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
India, Russia Hold Talks With ASEAN
Both Lavrov and Jaishankar also participated in separate post-ministerial conferences (PMC) with their ten ASEAN counterparts on Thursday.
A joint statement after ASEAN-Russia meeting called for the need to enhance ‘Strategic Partnership’ between the two sides, based on the principle of ‘ASEAN-centrality’ in Indo-Pacific and respect for the UN Charter.
For his part, Jaishankar said that his discussions with ASEAN foreign ministers focussed on increasing cooperation in digital, fintech, food security and maritime domain.
They also discussed the political situation in Myanmar during the talks.
India and ASEAN elevated their bilateral ties to the level of 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership' this year.