India-Ukraine holds ninth round of Foreign Office Consultations in Kyiv

New Delhi [India]: India and Ukraine held the ninth round of the India-Ukraine Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in Kyiv and exchanged perspectives on the ongoing Moscow and Kyiv conflict and peace efforts.

Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma co-chaired the 9th Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) with Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister of Foreign Ministry Emine Dzhaparova on Thursday, according to the statement released by MEA.

“The two sides reviewed bilateral ties in their entirety and also exchanged perspectives on the ongoing conflict and peace efforts. Global and multilateral issues of mutual interest were also on the agenda,” the statement read.

“During the visit, Secretary (West) called on Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine and discussed the ways to strengthen parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.

He also called on Andriy Yermak, Chief of Staff to the President of Ukraine. Secretary (West) also interacted with the Indian Diaspora and Ukrainian academia and think tanks,” it added.

Taking to her Twitter account, Emine Dzhaparova said, “Happy to greet@SanjayVermalFSin #Kyiv for Foreign office consultations. We discussed areas of our mutual cooperation & elaborated on #PeaceFormula of@ZelenskyyUa to ensure just and lasting peace. Confident Ukraine-India relationship will continue to prosper.”

Earlier in April, Emine Dzhaparova during her four-day visit to India said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy of democracy, dialogue and diversification is very important for Ukraine.

She further said that India should be pragmatic in diversifying its energy resources, diversifying military contracts and diversifying political interaction.”

As my President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, extraordinary times need extraordinary decisions. So of course, Prime Minister Modi with his 3D policy of democracy, dialogue and, to my knowledge, its diversity. I think that this no-era-of-war and strategic application is really, really important,” she added.

“We hope that India and Ukraine will be…even though we are distant geographically, but we will become closer physically and politically and in many other ways,” Dzhaparova added.

During the visit, Secretary (West) is expected to call on Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk and Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the release added.