Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States, the current situation in India’s neighbour Bangladesh was also a key topic of discussion during the Quad summit. He said that there was an "exchange of views on the situation."
Misri said that PM Modi put forward India's views and commitments for global growth, development, peace and security in his meeting with Quad leaders, both in multilateral and bilateral settings.
Notably, a joint 'Wilmington Declaration' issued after the meeting termed Quad a force for good and is more strategically aligned than ever before, with PM Modi remarking that the Quad is not against anyone, but for a rules-based international order and respect for sovereignty, in a veiled reference to China.
While addressing a press briefing in New York, Misri responded to a question on whether Bangladesh was part of the discussion with the Quad leaders, saying: "...These discussions cover subjects that are in the region. They may be of bilateral interest to one party or the other, but they do have significance beyond the region as well. And in this context, a number of situations came up for discussion. Bangladesh also figured in the discussions, and there was an exchange of views about the situation."
Bangladesh has witnessed several incidents of violence and chaos, eventually leading to the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after student protests turned into a massive anti-government movement.
Meanwhile, Misri also spoke about the peace proposal related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and asserted that people recognise the value of India's engagement in these conversations.
"Insofar as this specific question of the peace proposal related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict is concerned, I want to again underline that we are involved in a set of ongoing conversations with interlocutors on all sides," the foreign secretary said.
"People see value in India's engagement in these conversations, and we are able to talk to multiple interlocutors, and this is not something that is going to have some outcome in the present state because there is still quite a bit of work that remains to be done. At the moment, these are very important conversations that are going on with multiple people on all sides of the conflict," Misri added.
Prime Minister Modi on August 23 visited Ukraine and conveyed to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an "active role" to restore peace in the region.
His nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian prime minister since its independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held summit talks with President Vladimir Putin that triggered anguish in some Western countries.
In his talks with Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Modi said India was on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict and he would even like to contribute personally to a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
The Quad countries expressed deep concerns over the "raging war" in Ukraine and the "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza, while affirming support for adherence to international law and respect for the principles of the UN Charter, including territorial integrity, sovereignty of all states, and peaceful resolution of disputes.
Expressing "deepest concern" over the war in Ukraine, the four countries underscored the importance of upholding international law, in line with the UN Charter.
"We express our deepest concern over the war raging in Ukraine, including the terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences," the Wilmington Declaration read.
They reiterated that "all states must refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or political independence of any state."
The four countries also noted the negative impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, especially for developing and least developed countries. "In the context of this war, we share the view that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons is unacceptable."
Modi put forward India's views, commitments to global peace
Modi on Saturday had three separate bilateral meetings with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden along with the Quad Leadership Summit in Wilmington, Delaware.
"All of these engagements today have given the opportunity to Prime Minister to put forward India's views and commitments for global growth, development, and peace and security," Misri told reporters in New York.
Prime Minister Modi reached New York on Sunday after wrapping up the Quad Leaders' meeting in Wilmington, hosted by President Biden.
In a rare gesture, Biden hosted Modi for a bilateral meeting in his home, and the Quad summit was held at the Archmere Academy in Wilmington.
"In a sense, the overarching themes that have been reflected across the multiple meetings...the overall messages that have come through in all of his engagements have been India's emphasis on minimising conflict and division, leveraging our democratic values even as we pursue our development objectives, and highlighting the role of technology and the digital revolution in ushering in good governance, essentially to turn the disruptive features of technology to good ends," Misri said.
"In the bilateral meetings, all these themes found reflection in the interactions with the other leaders," he added.
With the United States, a very special feature of the bilateral meeting was the return of 297 antiquities to India, a few of which were on display at Biden's residence during the bilateral meeting.
At the Quad Leadership Summit and others associated with it, Misri said the Prime Minister underlined India's approach of cooperation, contact, and engagement for growth with a variety of partners in the Indo-Pacific.
"It was striking to hear the other Quad leaders acknowledge India's actions and also at the same time hear their expectations of India, which really underlines the need to continue to work and sustain this enormous trust that India has earned from its partners," Misri said.
Aspects of technology were emphasised in both the bilateral and the plurilateral formats, he said, adding the prime minister underscored the need to prevent the malign use of technology and to put technology to good use.
"In fact, the Prime Minister today referred to the Quad in a very, very evocative way. He called it in a very, very evocative way. He called it quick unified assistance delivery (QUAD). The other members of the Quad said that they finally understood what Quad signified and stood for," Misri said.
Amongst the major announcements from the summit was the Quad Cancer Moonshot, which is a groundbreaking partnership to address the challenges posed by cancer, and in this particular instance, cervical cancer.
The partners also launched the first-ever Quad at Sea Ship Observer Mission. This will take place in 2025 to improve interoperability and advance maritime safety between respective coastguards across the Indo-Pacific.
The Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network project will pursue shared airlift capacity among nations and leverage their collective logistics strengths to support civilian response to natural disasters more efficiently and more rapidly. The Quad Ports of the Future Partnership will harness Quad's collective expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific.
A memorandum of cooperation has been announced that would leverage the complementary strengths of the Quad partners to realise a diversified and competitive market and enhance Quad resilience in semiconductor supply chains, he said.
External Affairs Minister S Jayashankar and Secretary of State Tony Blinken also exchanged the agreement on a bilateral drug policy framework and the accompanying MOU.
During the meeting, both sides discussed at length the ever-expanding agenda of the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership, which has left no aspect of human endeavour untouched.
"They discussed ongoing cooperation in technology, in clean energy, in space, our engagement in defence and security, and, of course, the regional and global situation," he said.
Modi thanked Biden for his pioneering role in strengthening the India-US partnership over the last four years. In particular, he highlighted Biden's legacy initiative of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies.
Modi's meeting with Prime Minister Kishida was like a farewell meeting given the party elections that are scheduled later this month in Japan. Modi appreciated in a very fulsome fashion the contribution to the bilateral relationship that has been made by Kishida.
Sharing details about the meeting with Albanese, Misri said 2025 also happens to be the fifth anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Australia.
"There was a reference to the progress made under ECTA and the impact that it was already having on trade between the two countries and the steps that the two sides were taking to conclude even more ambitious economic cooperation agreements such as the SICA," he said.
There was discussion on cooperation in defence and security-related issues and the potential for cooperation in space and critical minerals.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI)
