The Ministry of External Affairs in their weekly briefing on Thursday made certain important announcements and settled certain contentious issues related to India’s relations with its neighbours and its image before the international community.
Here are some of the updates given by the Ministry,
1. The second Indo-US Ministerial 2+2 dialogue involving External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar and the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and their counterparts Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper.
Also Read: India-US set the tone for future partnership at 2+2 dialogue
2. The Ministry has previously announced the dates for the annual Indo-Japan summit being held in India from 15-17th December. However, they haven’t announced the venue of the talks. Certain sections of the media had reported that Guwahati and Imphal will be the venue for the annual talks. They then reported that it may be moved to Delhi. However, the Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar refused to comment on these reports and said categorically that there are no updates as far as the venue is concerned.
Some of the other pertinent issues that were discussed were the following:
1.Issue of the Bangladesh Foreign Minister cancelling his visit- It is said that the Foreign Minister cancelled his visit owing to the recently passed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. He also lashed out at India for belittling Bangladesh.
The Ministry clarified that the Minister concerned himself clarified that the visit has been postponed due to certain domestic compulsions. Bangladesh has clarified that it will be commemorating the victory day on December 16th and hence the Foreign Minister’s presence was required.
India and Bangladesh share an unique and good neighbourly ties and no issue can impact the ties between the two countries.
2. The Spokesperson also called out Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi for compulsorily commenting on every issue that takes place in India. He advised Pakistan to focus on its internal matters and ensure equal treatment of its minority population.