Modi’s Ukraine visit was the first by an Indian Prime Minister to the war-hit nation since 1991. The visit was of great significance as it comes at a time when the region finds itself in the middle of a conflict.
Modi was received at the station upon arrival and headed to the Hyatt Hotel for initial engagements. The Indian diaspora welcomed him at the hotel.
Responding to a question at the ET World Leaders Forum about PM Modi’s train ride to Ukraine, Jaishankar said laughing, “I could have done with a Vande Bharat.”
He added, “It was 10 hours each way, and I think, given the situation, obviously, you got what you got, but 10 hours is 10 hours.”
“I remember Prime Minister Narendra Modi going on a Shinkansen bullet train in Japan, I often cannot remember any other train ride at least for a long time,” he further said, in response to another question on the last time an Indian Prime Minister took a train ride.
Talking about the current geopolitical situation, Jaishankar said that all governments assess risk consciously or unconsciously. and that the majority of the policies are on de-risking.
“If I were to have a one-word summary of this situation, which is risks. Because what we have seen really for the last 15 years is a steady increase in terms of risks in the to the global order, in the international economy, in individual countries. There are risks that are actually coming out of the process of change…If there is a major war going on in Europe, there is a huge conflict going on in West Asia, and the Middle East, there are tensions around Asia, there is a revival of territorial claims, and border frictions. Those are actually, with each one of them, the risks mount…there are risks to supply chains today, not just Houthis in the Red Sea, there could be climate risks, there could be pandemic risks, there could be technology risks,” Jaishankar said.
“To me, every government, consciously or otherwise is today assessing risks, and the majority of the policies are on de-risking…The ones who do it better, have the ability, then to explore opportunities but the focus of the world is on de-risking,” he further added. He said that India, today is exploring opportunities, and trying to get involved more in global supply chains.
Jaishankar said that India came out of the Covid-19 pandemic in a much better manner as it followed its own understanding.
“We were among the countries, who largely, because we followed our own understanding, of our own society, and did not listen too much to free advice which we were getting in large quantities. We actually took a number of steps during that period which allowed us to come out much better of Covid than the world,” he added.
