'World recognizes India's compulsions and interest': Ex-diplomat

By Ayushi Agarwal
New Delhi [India], November 15 : Former secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs, Rahul Chhabra, on Tuesday said the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden at G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia is a signal that the world accepts and recognizes India's compulsions and interests.
His remark came in response to US State Department Spokesperson Zed Tarar's statement earlier that there is a 'friendship' between Biden and Modi and that is 'apparent.'
"This is a very significant statement coming from the US State Department spokesperson because it has been conveyed to the world. Many diplomats like us had known that this was there, going back several decades.... but, now hearing about this from the US State Department spokesperson is a sort of signal to the world that the world accepts and recognizes that India has its compulsions, we need to look after our own interests," Chhabra said.
"In case we need to buy Russian oil at discounted prices, we should not be penalised for that. We should be allowed to do what we need to do, to look after our own citizens while not affecting our friendship. India-US relationship transcends all these issues. So, this is a very good statement and I am glad that he made it," he added.
During the ongoing G20 Summit in Bali, PM Modi and President Biden were pictured greeting each other with a warm hug and sharing some light moments before heading to the day's engagements.
US State Department Spokesperson Zed Tarar said that India and United States have always been on the same page as far as several global issues are concerned.
"There is a friendship between President Biden and PM Modi which is apparent. There are several such world topics that both nations do not see face to face. But that does not affect our relationship. Every country moves as per their own strategy, most important is we are keeping pressure on Russia, not on our friends," Tarar said.
During the meeting between the two world leaders, the minutes of which were released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Modi and Biden reviewed and pledged to continue deepening of the India-US strategic partnership, including cooperation in future-oriented sectors like critical and emerging technologies, advanced computing, artificial intelligence, etc and expressed satisfaction about the close cooperation between India and US in new groupings such as the Quad, I2U2, etc.
The release also stated that the two leaders discussed topical global and regional developments and PM Modi thanked Biden for his "constant support for strengthening the India-US partnership".