External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin's recently concluded two-day visit to India was about reimagining relationships between New Delhi and Moscow.
Here's a look at the top quotes of the foreign minister:
- "The world has seen a lot of ups and downs in the last 70-80 years, but India and Russia have been among the steadiest big relationships in the world. Russia's ties with China or Europe had their ups and downs, and so did our ties with other nations. But you can see it in popular sentiments; there is a feeling about Russia on the streets."
- "This visit (of Putin to India) was about reimagining the relationship. It was about building dimensions, which it lacked or didn't have in enough measure."
- "If I were to pick two or three big takeaways (from Putin's visit), they would be the mobility agreement, understanding on a joint venture on fertilisers, and overall considerable focus on how to bring up the relationship."
- "Trade is the most important issue with the US. It is central to the thinking in Washington. We are prepared to meet it on reasonable terms."
- "We believe there can be a landing point for our respective trade interests. It is something that will be negotiated hard. For us, the interest of the workers and the farmers and the middle class matters. When we look at the trade agreements with the US, we must be judicious,"
- "After Oct 24 last year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi met, we reached an understanding on the last set of friction points at that time. Since then, by and large, the border areas have remained stable, and patrolling patterns have mostly resumed and are taking place smoothly."
- "Peace and tranquility in the border areas is a prerequisite for good relations (between India and China), is being maintained and is being built upon. But it's not like that was the only issue in the relationship. There were many other issues, some of which predated Galwan."
- "The reality of the Pakistani army has always been, and much of our problems actually emanate from there. You know, when you look at the terrorism, when you look at the training camps, when you look at the sort of policy of a kind of, I would say, almost ideological hostility towards India, where does that come from? It comes from the army."
- "As far as we are concerned, we wish Bangladesh well. We think as a democratic country, you know, any democratic country likes to see the will of the people ascertain through a democratic process. I'm quite confident that whatever comes out of the democratic process would have a balanced and mature view about the relationship and, you know, hopefully things would improve."
- "Sheikh Hasina came here (to India) in a certain circumstance and, you know, I think that circumstance clearly sort of is a factor in, you know, what happens to her. But again, that is something in which she has to make up her mind."
