Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Donald Trump held their bilateral talks – first since Mr Modi’s re-election with a massive mandate – here on the sidelines of the G20 Summit and both the leaders laid emphasis on maintaining stability in the Iran region.
“Essentially the two leaders agreed that they and their (Indian and US) officials will continuously remain in touch so that the region remains stable…and I think that is in our interest, it is in the interest of the United States and the interest of the region,” Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters after the bilateral talks.
Foreign Secretary maintained that the contentious S-400 issue on India-Russia defence deal did not figure at the parleys.
“S-400 issue was not discussed…there was an issue of time constraints,” he said.
However, he asserted categorically, – “No one issue is going to impact the larger strategic relation between India and the United States”.
But he said, the issue of India’s defence deal with Russia was addressed by External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar at a joint press conference with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Delhi on June 26.
“So that’s where it stands…..no discussion took place (on S-400),” Mr Gokhale made it clear.
On Iran, Mr Gokhale said the “primary focus was on how we ensure stability in that region”.
“Instability affects us in many ways. Not just in terms of our energy needs ….but also in terms of our large diaspora in Gulf, eight million Indians in the Gulf,” he said.
Foreign Secretary underlined that India’s relationship with the United States is very deep.
“….We have some issues, we will work through them,” he maintained adding emphatically no one issue is going to in any way have ‘any impact’ in ties between the two nations. Foreign Secretary said both the leaders had “very open meeting and very warm discussions”.
