Finance
S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, met with many foreign ministers on the sidelines of the G2O Foreign Ministers Meeting in Johannesburg on Thursday, including Sergei Lavrov (Russia), Wang Yi (China), and Penny Wong (Australia).
He also spoke with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timotheos, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, and many other dignitaries who attended the occasion.
“Good to see colleagues from across the world,” the EAM posted on X along with several photographs of him holding informal discussions with the foreign ministers.
“Catching up with counterpart Foreign Ministers at the G20 meeting,” Jaishankar said in another post.
Earlier, the EAM met Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, discussing bilateral ties, global developments, work in the G20 and Brazil’s BRICS Presidency.
On January 1, 2025, Brazil assumed the leadership of the BRICS, a key forum for political and economic cooperation among Global South nations.
BRICS, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has lately increased its membership to include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran, and Indonesia.
India and Brazil have a deep and diverse connection, both bilaterally and through multilateral fora such as BRICS, BASIC, G-20, G-4, IBSA, and the International Solar Alliance.
EAM Jaishankar also met Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, on the sidelines of the G20 FMM.
“Always a good conversation with Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan of Singapore, this time in Johannesburg on the sidelines of G20 FMM. Discussed the state of the world and our work in furthering bilateral ties,” he posted on X.
India-Singapore relations were elevated to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Singapore in September 2024.
The External Affairs Minister reached Johannesburg earlier in the day to participate in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM) at the invitation of the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa Ronald Lamola.
“EAM’s participation in the G20 FMM will strengthen India’s engagement with G20 countries and bolster the voice of the Global South in this important forum. EAM is expected to hold few bilateral meetings in the margins of the FMM,” read a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday.
The meeting is the first Foreign Ministers’ Meeting conducted during South Africa’s G20 presidency, with the subject ‘Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability’.
South Africa’s G20 Presidency began on December 1, 2024 and will finish on November 30, only five years before the deadline of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda.
President Cyril Ramaphosa insisted that South Africa’s G20 presidency comes at a time when the world is dealing with a number of overlapping and mutually reinforcing crises, including climate change, underdevelopment, inequality, poverty, hunger, unemployment, technological changes, and geopolitical instability.
Source: IANS
