Jaishankar welcomes foreign delegates at G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday welcomed foreign delegates at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (G20FMM).

Jaishankar welcomed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, in Delhi.

He also welcomed Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang, Foreign Minister of Argentina Santiago Cafiero, Mauritius Foreign Minister Alan Ganoo, South African Foreign Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor, and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares.

It is pertinent to note that this is the first meeting between Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Qin.

Jaishankar also welcomed German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farha, UAE's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Japan's Deputy Foreign Minister Kenji Yamada.

The venue of the G20 FMM is Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center. Overall 40 delegations -- Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India as host, Indonesia both as immediate past president and ASEAN chair, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, US (all G20 member countries) -- are expected to participate in the meeting.

Among the 9 guest countries participating at the level of FMs are Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the UAE. This will be the second ministerial meeting being held under India's Presidency. The first ministerial meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was held in Bengaluru. Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said it is one of the largest gatherings of Foreign Ministers hosted by any G20 presidency.

During the Foreign Ministers' meeting on Thursday, the EAM will chair two foreign ministries meeting sessions. "The first session will focus on multilateralism, and issues related to food and energy. The second session will focus on four or five key issues including new and emerging threats including counter-terrorism and narcotics, global skill mapping, and focus on global talent pools," said the foreign secretary.