Jaishankar, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba Hold Bilateral Talks To Strengthen Ties

India and Ukraine on Friday held "open and wide-ranging" talks here as part of a bilateral engagement between its foreign ministers to strengthen ties, with discussions focussing on the "ongoing conflict and its wider ramifications".

Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba's two-day visit to India came amid efforts to seek a peaceful resolution to the more than two-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict. He arrived here on Thursday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Kuleba at the Hyderabad House.

After the meeting, Jaishankar in a post on X said, "An open and wide-ranging conversation with Ukraine FM @DmytroKuleba this afternoon."

"Our discussions focused on the ongoing conflict and its wider ramifications. Exchanged views on various initiatives in that context. Spoke as well on global and regional issues of interest to both of us. Reiterated our commitment to strengthen the overall relationship, including bilateral cooperation," he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement later said the meeting between Jaishankar and Kuleba focussed on "fostering constructive dialogue and strengthening bilateral relations between India and Ukraine including in areas such as trade and investment, science and technology, defence, agriculture, health, culture, and education".

During his visit, Kuleba also met Deputy National Security Adviser Vikram Misri.

The MEA said both the ministers also held "a separate discussion on matters related to the India-Ukraine Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical, Industrial and Cultural Cooperation and its working groups". 

Both sides agreed to work towards holding the 7th IGC meeting later this year, the statement said.

"The exchange of views on regional and global matters involved a comprehensive discussion on the ongoing conflict and efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement. Regular interactions at various levels and meetings of bilateral mechanisms have contributed to the strong and multifaceted partnership that exists between India and Ukraine," it added.

Kuleba described India and Ukraine as "two big friendly nations", and said he had "sincere and comprehensive" talks with his Indian counterpart on bilateral ties, and they "agreed to restore" the level of their cooperation that existed prior to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

During the meeting, Kuleba said both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have spoken in person and on the phone "a number of times, and they always instruct us foreign ministers to push this relationship forward".

"We have a big work to do, and I am looking forward to delivering, so that we can report to our leaders, but also to the peoples of India and Ukraine, two big friendly nations," he said.

Earlier in the day, Jaishankar also shared some photographs of him shaking hands with his Ukrainian counterpart and the bilateral meeting.

On Thursday, Kuleba had posted on X, "I began my visit to New Delhi upon @DrSJaishankar's invitation. The Ukrainian-Indian cooperation is important and we will be reinvigorating ties. Building on the dialogue between @ZelenskyyUa and @NarendraModi, we will pay specific attention to the Peace Formula."

In his opening remarks at the meeting, Jaishankar welcomed Kuleba to India, and said he was glad to see that "some of our bilateral mechanisms have also met" which has created "a certain momentum in our bilateral relationship".

"Welcome to India, to New Delhi. We have been looking forward to this visit, and I'm very glad that despite our - both of us have fairly heavy travel schedules, we have been able to match it and organise this meeting," he said.

Jaishankar added that in recent months, "we've had actually interactions at various levels. I'm glad to see that some of our bilateral mechanisms have also met. I think this has created a certain momentum in our bilateral relationship".

"And today, after this discussion in the afternoon, we look forward also to the meeting of the Inter-Governmental Commission," he said.

"Your visit gives us an opportunity, obviously, to understand the situation in your own region, and I look forward to hearing your perspectives on that. I think our teams have prepared a very substantial agenda of our discussions, and I would invite you to make your opening remarks," Jaishankar said.

The MEA on Thursday said, "We continue to encourage peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy and remain open to engaging all ways and means that would help achieve this objective."

The peace formula proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2022 follows 10 principles aimed at ensuring a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 20 had held separate conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy and asserted that dialogue and diplomacy were the way forward for the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Modi had spoken to Putin over telephone to congratulate him for winning a fifth term in office in the recent elections, and followed it up with a phone call to Zelenskyy to convey India's "consistent support" for all efforts for peace and bringing an early end to the ongoing conflict.

During the telephone conversation, the Ukrainian President had thanked India for its support for his country's sovereignty and said that it would be important for Kyiv to see New Delhi attend the inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland.