Muscat:

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Touhid Hossain on Sunday to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries and BIMSTEC.

“Met Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain of the Interim Government of Bangladesh. The conversation was focused on our bilateral relationship, as also on BIMSTEC,” the minister said in a post on X.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) includes seven countries: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, and Nepal.

Bangladesh will be the next chair of the BIMSTEC summit, which will take place in Bangkok from April 2 to 4 this year.

Hossain met Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Indian Ocean Conference in Oman as part of efforts to prevent further strains in bilateral ties.

The close ties between India and Bangladesh came under severe strain after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, who was forced to leave the country in the face of a massive anti-government protest in August last year.

Nobel Peace laureate Mohammad Yunus came to power days after Hasina fled to India.

The relations deteriorated further over attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh.

There had been a spate of incidents of violence against Hindus and other minorities, as well as attacks on temples in Bangladesh after Hasina’s ouster that triggered strong concerns in New Delhi.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who is in India to take stock of the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), met Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar in Delhi on Monday.

Mr Sullivan’s trip comes days after Mr Jaishankar concluded a six-day visit to the US. His trip was the last high-profile visit to New Delhi by the outgoing Biden administration.

The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the US will take place on January 20.

Delhi | #Watch: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar meets US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan

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— NDTV (@ndtv) January 6, 2025

During Mr Sullivan’s visit, the two sides are expected to review the overall India-US strategic ties and outcomes achieved in deepening ties between the two countries under Biden’s presidency.

Later in the day, Mr Sullivan is expected to hold wide-ranging talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

In their talks, Mr Sullivan and Mr Doval are expected to deliberate on the implementation of the iCET, billed as one of the very significant initiatives rolled out during Joe Biden’s presidency to expand India-US strategic ties.

The iCET represents a landmark initiative between the two countries in areas of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotech, and defence innovation. It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Biden in May 2022, with the aim of forging greater collaboration between the two countries in areas of critical technologies.

Last year, the two sides unveiled a raft of transformative initiatives to deepen India-US cooperation in areas of semiconductors, critical minerals, advanced telecommunication and defence space. Sullivan last visited India in June 2024.

Manama:

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday offered prayers at Shreenath Ji temple in Manama, describing it as a “true symbol of the longstanding friendship” between India and Bahrain.

During his visit, S Jaishankar saw pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi taken during Modi’s visit to the temple in 2019.

Sharing the experience on X, S Jaishankar wrote, “Started the day by visiting the 200 year-old Shreenathji Temple in Manama. A true symbol of the longstanding India – Bahrain friendship.”

EAM Jaishankar arrived in Manama on Saturday to participate in the Manama Dialogue. He was received by his Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

Expressing his enthusiasm for the visit, Jaishankar posted on X, “Delighted to arrive in Manama this evening. Great to see my brother FM Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani. Look forward to participating in the Manama Dialogue tomorrow. Confident that our High Joint Commission will be very productive.”

He will be in Bahrain from December 8 to 9, where he will co-chair the 4th India-Bahrain High Joint Commission (HJC) with Foreign Minister of Bahrain; Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani. This Ministerial Meeting will review the entire gamut of the bilateral relations and discuss avenues to further strengthen the multifaceted ties between India and Bahrain.

The External Affairs Minister will also participate in the 20th edition of IISS Manama Dialogue in Bahrain on December 8, according to Ministry of External Affairs press release. The theme of this year’s Manama Dialogue is “Middle East leadership in shaping regional prosperity and security.”

India and Bahrain enjoy excellent bilateral relations characterized by cordial political, economic, cultural and people to people contacts.The two countries have seen several high-level interactions which reflect the closeness of ties between the two countries, according to MEA.

Bahrain is keen on seeking greater economic engagement with India as Bahrain recognizes the importance and potential of the growing Indian economy and its Look East Policy in recent times has India as a major pivot, the Ministry of External Affairs noted. The two countries have significant cooperation across all sectors. Trade and investment ties are flourishing between the two countries.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

As the eastern Ladakh military standoff entered its fifth year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India hopes for a resolution of the remaining issues with China and asserted that a return to normal bilateral ties hinges on peace and tranquility at the border.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, S Jaishankar said the remaining issues mainly pertained to “patrolling rights and patrolling abilities”.

Specifically asked when a resolution to the dragging row can be expected in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks to Newsweek magazine last month, S Jaishankar said that he only provided a “big-picture” viewpoint on the matter.

“We would hope that there is a resolution of the remaining issues out there. These issues mainly pertain to patrolling rights and patrolling abilities there,” he said.

“I would not link it to the prime minister’s interview per se. I think the prime minister was giving a big-picture viewpoint and his big-picture viewpoint was a very reasonable viewpoint which is — after all as neighbours, every country wants good relations with its neighbours,” he said.

“But today, our relations with China are not normal because the peace and tranquility in the border areas has been disturbed. So he (PM) was expressing the hope that the Chinese side should realise that the present situation is not in its own interest,” S Jaishankar said.

PM Modi had said that the border situation needs to be addressed urgently and that stable and peaceful ties between India and China are important for not just the two countries but for the entire region and world.

S Jaishankar said diplomacy is a work of patience and India continues to discuss the issues with the Chinese side.

“I would say that we need to resolve those issues if the relationship is to come back to normal,” he said during the interview on Thursday.

The Indian and Chinese militaries have been locked in the standoff since May 2020 and a full resolution of the border row has not yet been achieved though the two sides have disengaged from a number of friction points.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for the normalisation of overall ties.

Asked why bilateral trade volume with China is going up when New Delhi has been insisting that the ties cannot be normal when the border situation is abnormal, S Jaishankar suggested that such a scenario has arisen as adequate attention to the manufacturing sector was not given before 2014.

“I think it is common sense that if there is no peace and tranquility in the border, how can you have a normal relationship,” he said.

“After all if somebody is at your front door in an unfriendly manner, you are not going to go out there and act as though everything is normal. That to me is a straightforward proposition,” S Jaishankar added.

The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

In the diplomatic and military talks with China, the Indian negotiators have been insisting on restoring the status quo ante of April 2020 along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told PTI over a week back that the talks between the two sides are going on well and hoped for a resolution of the lingering row.

Following the Galwan Valley clashes, India has been majorly focusing on boosting its overall military capability along the frontier with China.

The Army has significantly bolstered the deployment of troops and weaponry along the nearly 3,500 km-long LAC, including in the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors following the clashes. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)