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United States Secretary of State Antony J Blinken had discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on measures to mitigate the global impacts of Russia's war in Ukraine.
On the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meet, Blinken spoke to Jaishankar and shared his views on tackling global and regional challenges. United States Department of State spokesperson Edward Ned Price said that Blinken met with Jaishankar to discuss how India and the US can expand technology and defence cooperation and increase food energy, and health security. Ned Price also informed that Blinken and Jaishankar spoke about efforts to elevate and expand strategic technology and defence industrial cooperation and promote food, energy, and global health security. They also held discussions to promote clean energy transition, counternarcotics cooperation and women's economic empowerment. Secretary Blinken and Minister Jaishankar also discussed how to mitigate the global impacts of Russia's war in Ukraine, the United States and India's cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, the successful launch of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), and regional issues said Ned Price. Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had urged his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to reverse Moscow's "irreversible decision" and return to implementing New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) nuclear arms reduction treaty. Blinken said, "I urged Russia to reverse its irresponsible decision and return to implementing the New START, which places verifiable limits on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Russian Federation. Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries. It's also what people worldwide expect from us as nuclear powers." He said that every country continues to bear the cost of Russia's aggression. "Every country continues to bear the cost of Russia's aggression; a war that President Putin can end tomorrow if he chooses to do so. We worked hard to prevent it," said Blinken in New Delhi.Blinken also reaffirmed Washington's support for Ukraine's peace proposal that maintains the country's territorial integrity."The US stands ready to support Ukraine through diplomacy to end the war on this basis President Putin however has demonstrated zero interest in engaging saying that there is nothing to talk about," Blinken said. Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the West is trying to divide the geopolitical picture into individual episodes."The West is trying to divide the geopolitical picture into individual episodes but India, addressed by PM Modi, gave the assessment of the situation across the globe in general terms and I completely share it," Lavrov said after holding a brief meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.Lavrov said that Russia has tried to resolve the issues on many occasions, and Russia has publicly stated that it has never refused to listen to suggestions to find political solutions.(ANI)
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