Minister Jaishankar holds talks ahead of India's G20 presidency

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has exchanged views on the present situation of Myanmar and Afghanistan with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi.

Jaishankar also agreed to take forward the bilateral ties between the two nations and to work closely in the G-20 Troika.

The situation in Afghanistan is in turmoil since the Taliban took control of the nation in mid-August and is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, while the military coup in Myanmar led to a major power shift in 2021, marking the end of a short-lived stint of democracy in the country, and now it seems the situation isn't likely to change anytime soon.

Recently, India joined the G20 Troika in December 2021, and with this, India has started the procedure for taking over the G20 presidency next year.

The G20 troika refers to the top grouping within the G20 that consists of the current, previous and incoming presidencies -- Indonesia, Italy and India.

India will assume the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022, from Indonesia and will convene the G20 Leaders' Summit for the first time in India in 2023.

Italy hosted the G20 summit during October 30-31, 2021 where India had raised the issue of Afghanistan's future following the takeover by the Taliban.

Indonesia took over the G20 presidency from December 1, 2021, and in the coming months, Indonesia will hold rounds of discussion at various levels among the members of the G20 before convening the G20 Leaders' Summit scheduled for October 30-31, 2022.

Next year's summit will be organised along the "Recover Together, Recover Stronger" theme.

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar noted that the mutual benefits of the great progress in bilateral cooperation are "very visible".

"Recognised the great progress in bilateral cooperation in my talk with FM @abdulla_shahid . Its mutual benefits are very visible. Conveyed my New Year's greetings to the people and Government of Maldives," tweeted S. Jaishankar.

(ANI)