New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said that he held a discussion with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on several issues including the ongoing war in Ukraine, the situation in Afghanistan, challenges pertaining to the Indo-Pacific region and a range of key bilateral issues.
Delivering his statement after the conclusion of the fourth India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, he said, “A good part of my meeting with Secretary Blinken in the morning went to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine that has many ramifications. Even countries far away are worried about food security, energy security and commodities prices and logistics disruption.”
“India is in talks for the supply of wheat and #sugar to many countries, including through the World Food Programme, to mitigate the volatility in food supplies and prices due to the Ukraine conflict”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar @DrSJaishankar
@fooddeptgoi— ChiniMandi (@ChiniMandi) April 12, 2022
“This comes on top of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic with which the world has been struggling in the last two years. Quite apart from public health concerns and its economic impact, this has raised concerns about the need for resilient and reliable supply chains,” he added.
Minister said, “We are quite willing and, in fact, we have already started responding to the need for greater food supplies, especially wheat, most of all; but to some degree, sugar as well. We have even at this moment a number of countries are discussing with us the possibility of greater food supplies, including the World Food Programme.”
(With inputs from ANI)
