External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of ASEAN events in Vientiane, Laos.
A photo shared by the Russian Embassy in India showed Mr Jaishankar and Lavrov smiling and shaking hands.
“Foreign Minister of #Russia Sergey Lavrov and External Affairs Minister of #India Dr. S. Jaishankar @DrSJaishankar met on the sidelines of #ASEAN events,” the Russian Embassy in India said on social media platform X.
Earlier, the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State meeting in Astana. During his meeting with Lavrov on July 3, Mr Jaishankar raised “serious concerns about Indian citizens” currently present in Russia’s war zone. The two leaders also discussed the “global strategic scenario” and exchanged assessments and views.
In a post on X, Mr Jaishankar said, “Good to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Astana today. Had a wide-ranging discussion on our bilateral partnership and contemporary issues. Noted progress in many areas since our last meeting in December 2023.”
“We expressed our deep concern about the Indian nationals who are currently in the combat zone. Pressed for their safe and early return. Also discussed the global strategic scenario and exchanged assessments and views,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Mr Jaishankar, who is on a visit to Vientiane from July 25-28, attended the ASEAN meeting. In his address, Mr Jaishankar said political, economic and security cooperation with ASEAN is a top priority.
Mr Jaishankar said, for India, ASEAN is the cornerstone of its Act East Policy, the Indo-Pacific vision based on it, and people-to-people contacts, which India seeks to continually expand.
Mr Jaishankar thanked Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan for his best wishes on his reappointment and said he looked forward to working with him in the future. He also appreciated Balakrishnan’s role as Country Coordinator.
As the Philippines will take over as the next Country Coordinator, Mr. Jaishankar said he looked forward to working closely with Philippines Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo.
He congratulated Laos for its chairmanship of ASEAN. “I extend my full support for a successful chairmanship (to Lao PDR). I thank my colleague and Lao PDR for the warm welcome and hospitality.”
He welcomed Timor-Leste as an observer to the meeting. “Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that we will open an embassy in Delhi. We are going to do that very soon and, in fact, we will also have high-level visits there.”
“I express my deep appreciation to all of you for strengthening ASEAN-India relations through concrete and substantive cooperation identified under the ASEAN-India Plan of Action,” Mr Jaishankar said, adding that he looked forward to further discussions.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
