Highlighting India's stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said he believes the countries across the world recognize and understand and appreciate India's balanced approach.
Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Goyal said, "We believe there should be a cessation of hostilities that both should discuss and resolve their issues and we should have peace in the region."
"In our own approaches, we do not see the gains or losses of war, we always believe there will always be a loss. But at the same time, it has not affected us directly in any significant way because our trade with these two countries was relatively a very small portion of our overall internationalism," Goyal said when asked about the Russia-Ukraine conflict impact on India.
He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been in regular contact with all the world leaders over the Russia-Ukraine situation.
"Prime Minister Modi has been in regular contact with all the world leaders. He has, of course, been requesting and appealing for peace in the region consistently. I believe our friendly countries across the world recognize and understand and appreciate India's balanced approach," the minister said.
He continued by saying that "I think everybody will have to take a call whether everybody is willing to stop all engagements, stop all dependency on petroleum products or energy requirements before they can point fingers at each other."
Goyal also said that the world "recognizes India is clearly on the right and India is clearly looking for peace in the region at the earliest."
When asked about the currency transaction mode for purchasing oil from Russia, Goyal said, "I don't think it is very material, what kind of price discounted or otherwise, I still believe that it's more important the war comes to an end."
"I believe we would all like to pay a fair price for all products, petroleum or otherwise..., It's important that we all work towards peace in the region. I don't see any gain or anybody coming out of such a conflict," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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