India, along with other BRICS partner countries, today expressed concern at the energy and food security implications of the Ukraine conflict.
External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, participated in the meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations through video conferencing on Thursday which was chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi under the BRICS rotating Presidency.
Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Alberto Franco França, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, led their respective delegations.
The ministers exchanged views on furthering intra-BRICS cooperation on the three pillars of political and security, economic and finance, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges. In this regard, they recalled the adoption in 2021 of the revised Terms of Reference for guiding BRICS engagement.
They reiterated that the BRICS countries shall continue work together to contain the spread and effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and supported the leading role of the WHO in combating the pandemic; the importance of the on-going discussions in the WTO including on TRIPS waiver proposal; and called for the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
The foreign ministers discussed the situation in Ukraine and supported talks between Russia and Ukraine while expressing concern at the energy and food security implications of the conflict.
They supported the call for advancing the process of reform and greater representation of developing countries in the international organizations and multilateral fora including UN and its Security Council so that they could play an important role in global governance.
While stressing that the objectives, principles and provisions of the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement must be honoured, they spoke on the importance of the fulfillment by developed countries of their commitments to provide technology and climate financing to assist developing countries to combat climate change.
The ministers expressed strong condemnation of terrorism whenever, wherever, and by whom-so-ever and also expressed commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists.
Welcoming the developments and meetings in both B2B and P2P formats, the BRICS foreign ministers participated in the dialogue between BRICS and developing countries on global governance and discussed greater engagement with the BRICS process.
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