German Foreign Minister hails PM Modi's call for peace in Ukraine

New Delhi, Sep 3 German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Wednesday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a speedy peace agreement in Ukraine made during his recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in China's Tianjin, describing it as a significant development for Europe.

"For us in Germany and Europe, Russia's war of aggression remains right now the biggest challenge to our security policy. The fact that Prime Minister Modi, when he met with President Putin a couple of days ago, also pointed to the need for a speedy peace agreement in Ukraine has been important to us. We Europeans are doing our best working with our American and Ukrainian friends to ensure that this war ends soon and Ukraine finds peace as a sovereign state," Wadephul said while addressing a joint media briefing with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar following their talks in New Delhi.

"I spoke out in favour today that India uses its relations with Russia to point to the need to make peace return to Europe. I'm grateful for the open discussion we had today, and peace is the basis for security, freedom and prosperity. Security, anyway or generally speaking, is and will remain a challenge for the future, and we are pleased that in the vicinity of India too, a ceasefire has come to apply,” he added.

The German Foreign Minister further assured that Germany stands firmly on India's side in its fight against terrorism.

He also asserted that India and Germany are united by an objective to preserve the rules-based international order that includes the freedom of maritime trade routes in the Indo-Pacific.

"China's increasingly aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific is a cause for concern for both our countries. More generally, we aim to further expand our cooperation in the areas of defence, security, and armaments. And we talked about this today. Be that through common exercises of our forces or speeding up the granting of export licenses process for the Indo-Pacific engagement," Wadephul emphasised

"Last year, a German frigate made a port call in India. Germany stands ready to enhance this cooperation. We also talked about the fact that security in the Indo-Pacific is closely linked to security in Europe," he added.

The German Foreign Minister expressed hope that the German Chancellor would visit India soon, highlighting the need to work together to tackle the shared challenges and further strengthen the bilateral cooperation.

As a rising economic powerhouse and the most populous country and biggest democracy in the world, he said, India holds strategic significance in the global world order.

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