'Opportunity to review bilateral ties, discuss global issues'

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said he reviewed ties with the United States and discussed global issues at a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken here.

Pleased to meet US Secretary of State Secretary Blinken on the sidelines of the G20FMM, Jaishankar said after the meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan premises here.

"Opportunity to review bilateral ties and discuss global issues," tweeted the external affairs minister. Blinken arrived in the national capital on Wednesday night to participate in the G20 Foreign ministers meeting being held here today under India's presidency of the G20.

Earlier today Blinken took to Twitter to post, "I went to the #G20 today with two imperatives: First, to ensure that the G20 -- with India at the helm -- advances our shared goals, and second, to demonstrate how the U.S., together with our partners, is acting to meet the needs of the world.

We succeeded at both." The White House in a statement yesterday said that during his three-day trip to India Blinken will reaffirm the strengthening of the bilateral relationship. "They will talk about our strategic partner partnership but really focus on how we're working together in the Asian Quad, in the G20, what we're doing on defence cooperation and the Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies that is being run out of the White House and the prime minister's office," Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, had said.

The US Secretary who arrived here after a visit to Uzbekistan in Central Asia will also is also set to attend a foreign ministers' meeting of the Quad on Friday. Blinken is scheduled to also participate in the Raisina Dialogue during his New Delhi visit. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, France's Catherine Colonna, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Germany's Annalena Baerbock and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly are among those attending the G20 FMM.

Meanwhile, Jaishankar will also set to meet with Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the G20 FMM today. Earlier this morning Jaishankar in his opening remarks in New Delhi to delegates at the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting (G20 FMM) highlighted the flaws in the global decision-making process at the United Nations.

He also discussed the agendas for today's discussions that included challenges of food, fertilizers and fuel security that are make-or-break issues for developing countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the inaugural speech at the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM) in the national capital through a video feed.

The meeting comes amidst the ongong conflict between Russia and Ukraine. PM Modi in his video address urged the G20 to build consensus and resolve differences saying, "We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can."

The FMM is the second in the list of ministerial meetings under the Indian Presidency of this year's G20 summit and is being presided by Jaishankar.