US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and EAM S Jaishankar hold a joint press conference in Washington on 27 September 2022. ANI
New Delhi: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in Washington on Tuesday praised PM Narendra Modi’s remark on the Ukraine war during the recent SCO summit.
Blinken said the US “couldn’t agree more with” what the PM told Russian president Vladimir Putin at the meeting in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand.
“I really want to emphasise on what PM Modi said, I think he captured, as well as anyone I have heard, fundamentally what this moment is about as he said, this is not an era, the time for war & we could not agree more,” Blinken said.
Calling an end to hostilities, Modi had told Putin that “today’s not an era of war.”
At the joint press conference, Jaishankar called for a return to dialogue & diplomacy on the Ukraine conflict.
“This conflict is not in anybody’s interest,” he said.
Spike in oil prices breaking India’s back: Jaishankar
The Indian foreign minister also raised concerns over the rise in oil prices.
“Look, we have concerns about the price of oil but we are a USD 2,000 per capita economy. When the price of oil is breaking our back and it’s our big concern,” he said.
Jaishankar was responding to a question on a cap on Russian oil.
The G-7 countries and the European Union have mooted an oil price cap on Russian imports to limit the country’s source of income.
F-16 equipment sale to Pak part of sustained program: Blinken
Another major issue that featured during the press conference was the US equipment sales for F-16 jets to Pakistan.
“This is a sustained program for F16s that Pakistan has long had. These are not new, this is sustaining what they have. We have a responsibility & obligation to whomever we provide military equipment to, that it’s maintained & sustained,” Blinken said.
He added that no two countries than India and US have a greater ability, opportunity, and responsibility to try to shape the future.
Meanwhile, Jaishankar added that India makes its choice about procuring defence equipment in its national interest.
“Don’t think we’ve faced any problems in terms of servicing or spare parts supply we’ve got in the past from Russia. Where we get our military equipment is not a new issue or changed due to geopolitical changes. We exercise a choice that is in our national interest,” he said.
With inputs from agencies
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