EAM Jaishankar Spoken to Russian FM Lavrov on Sidelines of SCO

"Departing Tashkent after a productive SCO FMs gathering. Bilateral meetings with Uzbek, Tajik, Kyrgyz and Kazakh counterparts advanced the India-Central Asia Summit process. Conversation on the sidelines with FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia was also useful," Jaishankar tweeted.

EAM S Jaishankar visited Tashkent on July 28-29 to take part in the meeting of the SCO meeting.

Apart from India, the Foreign Ministers of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan also participated.

"The meeting discussed the preparations for the forthcoming SCO Summit of Heads of State scheduled to be held in Samarkand on September 15-16 and witnessed a dialogue on international and regional issues," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

Jaishankar also held bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO foreign ministers with counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and with the Secretary General of the SCO.

On Friday, the Russian embassy in India said that Lavrov met Jaishankar and discussed regional and international problems. According to the embassy, they discussed topical issues of bilateral relations.

"On July 28, on the sidelines of the meeting of SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in Tashkent, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov met with Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar. They discussed topical issues of bilateral relations as well as regional & international problems," the Russian embassy in India said on Friday.

This brief conversation between the two ministers comes as Moscow has underlined that the positive dynamics of trade between the two countries will continue despite the West's sanctions against Moscow.

In an interview with Sputnik News India, Russia's envoy Denis Alipov this month said there were certain difficulties with trade after the start of the Ukraine conflict but added that both countries have successfully overcome most of these barriers.

Alipov said sanctions will certainly throw up challenges but the cooperation will continue based on common interests.

"Unfortunately, in the first months after the launch of the special military operation in Ukraine there were certain difficulties with supplying Russian goods to India and vice versa. However, today we have successfully overcome most of these barriers. We are confident that Indian exports to Russia (including science-intensive ones) will gain momentum in the near future," he said.