The Indo-Pacific is a complex and differentiated landscape that can best be understood through greater engagement, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said here on Saturday.
Jaishankar arrived in Stockholm on Saturday on his first visit to Sweden as Foreign Minister to attend the second EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum (EIPMF).
Speaking at an EU ministerial meeting on the Indo-Pacific, he said a generous and strategic approach that takes into account economic asymmetries will certainly increase the attractiveness of the strategically important region.
The meeting comes at a time when the Indo-Pacific region has seen aggressive actions by the Chinese military in the South and East China Seas.
“The Indo-Pacific itself is increasingly important to the direction of global politics. Among the problems it raises are problems inherent in the established model of globalization,” he said.
“The more the European Union and the Indo-Pacific negotiate, the stronger the respective recognition of multipolarity will be,” he said. Jaishankar said the multipolar world that the EU prefers is only feasible in a multipolar Asia. “In such involvement in the Indo-Pacific, the EU will naturally seek like-minded partners. India is certainly among them,” he said.
“The Indo-Pacific region is a complex and differentiated landscape that can best be understood through greater engagement,” he said. The Indo-Pacific and India and the European Union need regular, comprehensive and frank dialogue, not just limited to the crisis of the day, Jaishankar said.
He said few Indian governments have invested as much energy and effort in engaging the European Union and its member states as the current one.
He said de-risking the global economy now includes both more reliable and resilient supply chains and fostering trust and transparency in the digital domain.
“The EU and indeed the world are better off with other drivers of production and growth,” he said. “Utilization of market shares, production capacity and resources is an issue that can no longer be ignored, nor can connectivity and project financing be taken at face value,” he said. Jaishankar arrived in Sweden from Bangladesh where he addressed the 6th Indian Ocean Conference on Friday.
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