Antony Blinken speaks to S Jaishankar on Ukraine, global slowdown

New Delhi, March 30

Consultations with New Delhi continued to remain in a high gear with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaking to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar late on Wednesday night.

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The talks covered the Ukraine crisis and the resultant bleak global scenario, besides the Indo-Pacific, tweeted Jaishankar.

A review of bilateral ties was another topic of discusion. Several high-level foreign dignitaries are visiting the country for talks.

Ahead of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s arrival on Thursday, the US administration has dispatched its Deputy NSA for International Economics Daleep Singh, whom its media called “architect” of Russian sanctions.

Also in the country are German Security and Foreign Policy Adviser Jens Plötner, who met his counterpart NSA Ajit Doval, and Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who interacted with his counterpart S Jaishankar.

UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss will arrive in the early hours of Thursday for a meeting with Jaishankar and leave the same day.

The US Deputy NSA met Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as Washington doubles down on its drive to isolate Russia. Truss also arrives with the same objective.

“He will consult closely on the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine and mitigating its impact on the global economy,” said a US government statement, adding the development of an Indo-Pacific economic framework is on the agenda.

The German NSA and Doval discussed a wide range of bilateral issues as well as major global developments, including in their respective regions.