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New Delhi: India will always be on the side of peace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting on the margins of the G7 Summit in France on Wednesday, while calling for restoring bilateral trade relations to pre-war levels.
The two leaders have spoken on phone several times since Modi’s maiden visit to Ukraine in August 2024 and a meeting on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September the same year, and this was their first face-to-face encounter after a long gap.
Modi noted in a social media post after the meeting that India and Ukraine have been engaging extensively in recent times, and said this is reflected in different areas of cooperation.
“Our talks today were about reviewing different aspects of our cooperation. We both agree that trade ties need to be restored to what they were in the pre-war time. Also reiterated that India will always be on the side of peace, placing the values of humanity over everything else,” Modi said.
Zelensky said on social media that India and Ukraine have great potential for cooperation and the two sides are implementing joint projects. “Today, we discussed how to give them even more substance and expand cooperation across various sectors,” he said. “Importantly, the Prime Minister is interested in developing mutually beneficial relations with Ukraine and sees that this partnership can make our people stronger.”
He also said there are good industrial and other projects that can be implemented jointly and said the two leaders agreed that their teams would work on the details.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal described the meeting as fruitful and said the leaders discussed the strengthening of India-Ukraine ties, including in the areas of trade and economic cooperation. Modi reiterated that “India always stands for peace, and advocated the path of dialogue and diplomacy for early return of peace in the region”, Jaiswal said.
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