With the upcoming G7 summit set to debate chopping dependency on Russian fossil fuels, India on Friday stated its sourcing of crude oil is completely pushed by its nationwide pursuits and that its place on the difficulty is “very well understood” by varied international locations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending the annual summit of the G7 membership of rich nations to be held in Alpine citadel of Schloss Elmau in southern Germany on June 26 and 27.
Slashing of Europe’s dependency on Russian vitality sources in view of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine is more likely to be mentioned on the summit.
US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among the many prime leaders attending the G7 summit.
“Whatever the trading arrangements that India puts in place with regard to the purchase of crude oil all over the world are determined purely from the consideration of energy security of India and there is no other consideration,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra stated.
He was responding to a query on whether or not India can be underneath stress from the G7 international locations to limit its procurement of crude oil from Russia.
“I think that consideration is very well understood. I would even say appreciated across the countries. I do not see any point of assuming any pressure on that issue. India has continued its oil trade and purchases from wherever we need to do it,” he stated.
India’s crude oil imports from Russia have jumped over 50 instances since April and now make up for 10 per cent of all crude purchased from abroad, a senior authorities official stated on Thursday.
Russian oil made up for simply 0.2 per cent of all oil imported by India previous to the Ukraine conflict.
Kwatra stated India’s crude oil import is only decided, ruled and motivated by India’s vitality safety concerns, noting that it is likely one of the key features by way of the nation’s nationwide financial pursuits.
The Western international locations are regularly bringing down their vitality purchases from Russia following its assault on Ukraine.
Asked concerning the rising meals disaster arising out of the Ukraine disaster, Kwatra stated India has taken a really “proactive” stance to make sure meals safety of the weak international locations.
Ukraine is a serious producer of wheat and the halt in its exports of the staple meals has triggered its scarcity.
“I think the Russia-Ukraine situation has generated a certain amount of food security crisis all over the world and as a responsible nation, India has taken a very and proactive stance to ensure that the food security of the vulnerable countries are addressed in a manner that their needs are addressed,” he stated.
At the identical time, he emphasised on India’s strategy that the meals safety throughout the nation is completely in no way impacted.
“I think, there has been a widespread appreciation of the manner in which India has taken forward this position,” Kwatra stated.
On the disaster in Ukraine, he stated India’s place has all the time been very clear because it has been asking for cessation of hostilities proper from the start of the battle and clearly stated that the trail to the decision of the issue is thru diplomacy and dialogue.
The G7 contains the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”