Rome: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar recently shared his views on a range of global issues in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, highlighting India-Italy ties, China and EU and other developments in the world.
On being questioned about whether pressure from China is pulling other countries in the region close to each other, the EAM said, “My life doesn’t revolve around another country. My life revolves around my interests. My interests are to see a stable region, a more cooperative and prosperous one. We are looking for partners with whom we work. I think, in international relations, countries need to work with each other and get along with each other. They don’t do it because some other country has a viewpoint. They do it because it’s in their interest”.
Commenting upon the India-Italy relations, EAM Jaishankar said that he views them “Very positively”.
He shared that the two countries had announced a Joint Strategic Action Plan by India and Italy during the sidelines of the G20 Summit. Jaishankar said that the two nations had a “good discussion of our shared regional interests and cooperating from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean”.
“We count on Italy’s support in our growing engagement with the European Union. All these facets reinforce each other”, EAM remarked.
Moving towards strengthening the India-EU trade ties in the background of the possibility of the US turning more protectionist vis-a-vis the rest of the world, EAM agreed and noted, “There is a strong case even otherwise. We are among the major economic centres of the world today. The EU is India’s largest trade partner and a key investor. 6000 European companies are present in the Indian economy. But all these numbers could be much larger. Not having a mutually beneficial arrangement harms both of us. The challenge is to settle on the terms. Because the EU brings up many non-trade issues in the negotiations, it is more complicated than a normal FTA. But we have been negotiating for some years now. I can see a growing strategic understanding of why we need to bring it to a close”.
Sharing his impression of the Trump 2.0 administration, Jaishankar said, “We had a good relationship with President Trump in his first term. When we look at his new team, many of them are familiar faces for India. The nominated Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is a very senior senator”, the External Affairs Minister remarked.
Jaishankar is in Italy to attend the G7 Foreign Minister’s Meeting. During the meeting, he held several high-level interactions with counterparts from the US, Ukraine, Japan and many other countries. (ANI)
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