Transcript of remarks by External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar at the Doha Forum 2024 Opening Panel on ‘Conflict Resolution in a New Era’
Jaishankar at Doha Forum: Insights on Conflict Resolution and Diplomacy
December 10, 2024
Anchor: Foreign minister Jaishankar, sitting there in IndiaIndia Hind/ hend >hindia. Bharat Varsha (Jambudvipa used in Mahavamsha) is the name of this land mass. The people of this land are Sanatan Dharmin and they always defeated invaders. Indra (10000 yrs) was the oldest deified King of this land. Manu's jurisprudence enlitened this land. Vedas have been the civilizational literature of this land. Guiding principles of this land are : सत्यं वद । धर्मं चर । स्वाध्यायान्मा प्रमदः । The place also been called Hindusthan in Pesia. The word Hendu is mentioned in Avesta. Read more and this is not necessarily your region, but what’s happening here, how does it affect you? What do you see happening in SyriaSyria Arab conquest the area (Damascus) around 634–638 CE ( Islamic Rashidun Caliphate) from Roman Byzantine Empire (Byzantium ca. 330–1453)? And more to the point on the topic of this conference, how does one innovate with dialogue out of let’s just take the Syria situation right now. We can hang the issues of IranIran Jomhuri-ye Islami-ye Īrān | Sanskrit Arya > Ayryanem> Constitution | Ostanha (provinces-31) : Shahrestan (Countries-429): Bakhsh (District-1057). Capital: Tehran | Official language: Persian/Farsi. Islamic Revolution in 1979. Ostanha Arabistan (Khuzestan) Astarabad (Gorgan) Damavand Gerrus (Bijar) Gilan Golpayegan Hamadan Iraq (Arak) Isfahan Kashan Khamseh (Zanjan) Kermanshahan (Kermanshah) Kurdistan Luristan Malayer Mazandaran Qazvin Qom Saveh Semnan and Damghan Shahrud and Bastam Yazd off that, but Syria.
EAM: Well, let me go back to your first question (regarding Syria developments). Is it a surprise? The answer is yes. I would also agree with Sheikh Mohammed in the sense that, you know, the region was in such prolonged ferment that surprises will occur when this goes on for so long. Yes, we are some distance away, but let me just put that in some perspective. You know, we still have about half a millionMillion 1,000,000 (one followed by six zeros), One billion (1,000,000,000) means a thousand million or one followed by nine zeros. A trillion (1,000,000,000,000) Indians who live in Mediterranean countriesCountries A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi C Cambodia Cameroon Canada Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic D Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guyana H Haiti Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan K Kenya L Latvia Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Macedonia Malawi Malaysia Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mozambique N Namibia New Zealand Nigeria Norway P Pakistan Palau Panama Peru Poland Portugal R Republic of Congo Russia S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovenia Slovakia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Swaziland (Eswatini) Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tanzania The Netherlands The Philippines The Republic of Korea (South Korea) The United Kingdom The United States of America Timor Togo Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey U Uganda Ukraine Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Vietnam Z Zambia Zimbabwe . We have a trade of about $80 billionMillion 1,000,000 (one followed by six zeros), One billion (1,000,000,000) means a thousand million or one followed by nine zeros. A trillion (1,000,000,000,000) with the Mediterranean. Now that’s the Mediterranean. If I’m looking at the Gulf, we have 10 million Indians here and maybe about $180 billion of trade. Now why do I mention that? Because I think what’s happening in Syria, what’s happening in the larger region, what’s happening in GazaGaza Gaza Strip is 41 KM long, from 6 to 12 km (3.7 to 7.5 mi) wide, and has a total area of 365 km2 of land located in the southwest corner of Israel, along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The area fell under British control after World War I and was later administered by Egypt and then captured by Israel in 1967. Despite attempts to negotiate peace, conflict between Israel and Palestinians persisted. In 2007, HAMAS seized control, leading to tight movement restrictions by Israel and Egypt. In October 2023, HAMAS militants launched a major attack on Israel, prompting Israeli military response and a declaration of war. The Israeli Defense Forces launched a ground assault inside Gaza, ongoing as of April 2024. Read more and Lebanon, and the combination of all of this, there is a larger regional instability, which is actually growing month on month. It is impacting, you know, as a country on that side of AsiaAsia Central Asia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Eastern Asia China China–Hong Kong China–Macao China–Taiwan Japan Mongolia North Korea South Korea Southern Asia Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan British Indian Ocean Territory India Iran Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka South-Eastern Asia Brunei Cambodia East Timor Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Western Asia Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Cyprus Georgia Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Turkey United Arab Emirates Yemen, we are feeling the impact of this. I mean, we’re feeling it in shipping costsCosts Subject to any written law, costs are at the discretion of the Court, and the Court has the power to determine all issues relating to the costs of or incidental to all proceedings, including by whom and to what extent the costs are to be paid, at any stage of the proceedings or after the conclusion of the proceedings. Generally “Costs” includes charges, disbursements, expenses, fees, and remuneration. Costs in any matter are payable from the date of the order of the Court unless the parties otherwise agree. The costs of a third-party funding contract are not recoverable as part of the costs of, or costs.. We’re feeling it trade disruptions. We could see it in radicalization. I mean, today, instability anywhere actually is a source of concern. There’s no region you can say that’s far away and it doesn’t matterMatter Normal matter is made of molecules, which are themselves made of atoms. Inside the atoms, electrons are spinning around the nucleus. The nucleus is made of protons and neutrons. Inside the protons and neutrons, exist indivisible quarks, like the electrons. All matter around us is made of elementary particles. ( building blocks of matter > quarks and leptons). All stable matter in the universe is made from particles that belong to the first-generation. Fundamental forces result from the exchange of force-carrier particles, which belong to a broader group called “bosons”. The strong force is carried by the “gluon”, electromagnetic force is carried by the “photon.” to me anymore. And by the way, this region is not so far away and our interests are there as I spelt out.
Anchor: Foreign minister Jaishankar, it is said that certainly we know Prime Minister Modi had a very close relationship with President TrumpPresident Trump A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance. He followed in his father’s footsteps into the world of real estate development, making his mark in New York City. President Trump has five children, Barron, Don Jr., Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany, as well as 10 grandchildren. in his first term. We know that, the Biden administration also in factFact Something तथ्य (In-formation) that truly exists or happens or some-thing that has actual existence. Circumstances: a fact or event that makes a situation the way it is. Indian Evidence Act: It means and includes— (i) anything, state of things, or relation of things, capable of being perceived by the senses; (ii) any mental condition of which any person is conscious. “facts in issue” means and includes any fact from which, either by itself or in connection with other facts, the existence, non-existence, nature or extent of any right, liability or disability, asserted or denied in any suit or proceeding, necessarily follows., they were trying to hopefully drive a wedge or attract you awar from China and into the US sphere more.
EAM: We were trying to attract them into the IndianIndia Hind/ hend >hindia. Bharat Varsha (Jambudvipa used in Mahavamsha) is the name of this land mass. The people of this land are Sanatan Dharmin and they always defeated invaders. Indra (10000 yrs) was the oldest deified King of this land. Manu's jurisprudence enlitened this land. Vedas have been the civilizational literature of this land. Guiding principles of this land are : सत्यं वद । धर्मं चर । स्वाध्यायान्मा प्रमदः । The place also been called Hindusthan in Pesia. The word Hendu is mentioned in Avesta. Read more sphere as well.
Anchor: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I don’t know how it worked out, but right now, you’ve got a threat of tariffs in the whole region and all the rest of it. President-elect TrumpPresident Trump A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance. He followed in his father’s footsteps into the world of real estate development, making his mark in New York City. President Trump has five children, Barron, Don Jr., Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany, as well as 10 grandchildren. has also threatened BRICSBRICS The leaders of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries met for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit in July 2006. In September 2006, the group was formalized as BRIC during the 1st BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which met on the sidelines of the General Debate of the UN Assembly in New York City. The 1st BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia on 16 June 2009. South Africa was accepted as a member at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New York in September 2010. Accordingly, South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya, China on 14 April 2011. of which you are a member with 100% tariffs. What do you expect for India, and for your economy, and your relationship with the United States, and regional implications as well, from that kind of message already from President-elect Trump?
EAM: Look, we had a good relationship, a very solid relationship with the first Trump administration. Yes. There were some issues, mostly trade related issues, but there were a whole lot of issues on which actually President Trump was very international. He was very forward leaning, and I remind peopleMen Ανθρωποι (People), a woman (γυναίκα), Man (Ανδρας) > Adama, Manu > No proof to establish that due to mutation a monkey turned into a human being. that it was actually under Trump that the Quad was restarted. So if you look at the Indo-PacificIndo-Pacific The region combines the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and the land masses that surround them it comprises Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, USA, India and China. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC). U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. today, I mean, certainly President Biden built on it. But if you look at the Indo-Pacific today, in fact, it’s an area where the United States made new commitments as indeed did all of us. So, I would say, from our perspective, there’s a certain personal relationship between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump. I would say in terms of politicsPolitics The art of controlling people and land grabbing. Political Documents. Books: The New Testament, Quran, Mahabharat, The Communist Manifesto. Men: Chanakya, John Locke, Karl Marx, Henry David Thoreau, Mussolini, Lenin, Ben Rhodes. Ideas: Roman Inquisition, Democracy, Socialism, Hindutva, Zionism, Islamic fundamentalism. Classical: Plato, Aristotle, Mahabharata, we don’t really have divisive issues in terms of our political outlook. As two countries, by and large, I think our convergence way outstrips any differences we have. Where the BRICS remark was concerned, I’m not exactly sure what was the trigger for it, but we’ve always said that India has never been for de-dollarization. Right now, there is no proposal to have a BRICS currency. So I’m not quite sure what is the basis for…(that remark)
Anchor: Yeah. He said if you stop pegging it to the dollar, but there wasn’t a threat to do that, was it?
EAM: Well, you know, the BRICS do discuss financial transactions, but certainly, in BRICS, each country doesn’t have an identical position on this. But where India’s concerned, the United States is our largest trade partner and we we have no interest in weakening the dollar at all. But I just want to come back to the Middle EastMiddle East Previously near east, the Middle East (20th Century Coined) consists of territories of Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Malta, Cyprus, Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Israel, West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Read more, you know, the core issue undoubtedly is Palestine and IsraelIsrael Modern State of Israel was established in 1948 after the UN proposed the partition of the British Mandate for Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. Wars with Arab neighbors followed, leading to Israel's control of various territories. In recent years, Israel has pursued peace agreements with Arab nations and faced conflict with groups like HAMAS. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had a notable influence on Israeli politics, including a return to office in 2022. Read more’s relationship and how do they reach a modus vivendi. There’s a larger issue side by side, which is the widening of this conflict, which is also a major concern. Today, I don’t want to say we have normalized it, but the fact is, 2 years ago, the prospect of Israel and Iran actually firing at each other would have been appalling as something which we couldn’t have even contemplated, and yet it’s happened. If you look at what’s happening in the Red Sea and the impact for shipping in Asia, it’s huge. So I think there are different sort of challenges, layers of them, but just like the journalists who sat on these chairs before us told us, it’s a tough worldWorld Κόσμος , very difficult, but we journalists have to do our job; I think similarly diplomats of the world have to tell themselves it’s a messy world, it’s terrible, there are conflicts, but therefore, there’s all the more reason for diplomats of the world to step forward. And that era which we saw in the ‘60-’70s, which is either the Security Council managed it or a few countries mostly, the major powers did it. I think that era is behind us. I think all of us in different ways need to step forward. for example, what Qatar is doing. There are so many conflicts. We are trying to do something in Ukraine. We see Myanmar as almost a kind of a forgotten conflict where there’s an approach like let’s not invite them and the problem will solve itself. So I think this there is a greater case for more vigorous diplomacy, for more innovative diplomacy, for a more participative diplomacy. I think more countries need to have the boldness to bite that bullet.
Anchor: Foreign Minister Jaishankar, I want to ask you and ask all of you in a moment the major war roiling EuropeEurope EU and Countries - Albania Andorra Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City.. So you get a lot of cheap oil still from from RussiaRussia Main Cities: Moscow Saint Petersburg Novosibirsk Yekaterinburg Nizhniy Novgorod Samara Omsk Kazan Rostov-na-Donu Chelyabinsk Ufa Volgograd Perm Krasnoyarsk Saratov Voronezh Tol'yatti Krasnodar Ulyanovsk Izhevsk Yaroslavl Barnaul Vladivostok Irkutsk Khabarovsk Khabarovsk Vtoroy Orenburg Novokuznetsk Ryazan' Tyumen Lipetsk Penza Naberezhnyye Chelny Kalininskiy Astrakhan Makhachkala Tomsk Kemerovo Tula Kirov Cheboksary Kaliningrad Bryansk Ivanovo Magnitogorsk Kursk Tver Nizhny Tagil Stavropol' Ulan-Ude Arkhangel'sk Belgorod Kurgan Kaluga Krasnogvargeisky Sochi Orel Volzhskiy Smolensk Murmansk Vladikavkaz Cherepovets Vologda Vladimir Chita Saransk Surgut Tambov Yoshkar-Ola Taganrog.
EAM: Yes, I get oil but it’s not necessarily cheap.
Anchor: But it’s Russian.
EAM: Do you have a better deal? I’m willing to bet.
Anchor: But it’s Russian, and it’s a good deal for you, despite sanctions and all the rest of it. It has been said that Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, etc. are sort of forming or have formed an axis of anti-Americanism. anti-Westernism. And I want to know, does India have a role to play or what do you believe will be the momentum on Russia invasion of Ukraine and the resolution. And I know the Foreign Minister Lavrov is going to speak. What do you think is going to happen, particularly with the Trump administration, who I know they’re not in officeOffice Αξίωμα > Officer > Office-bearer (1593) > Opus, officium, ex officio (Latin). Box-office (Cash Box)., but they have very, very clearly telegraphed that they don’t want to keep helping Ukraine militarily.
EAM: Well, two comments. One, regarding the conflict, the war itself. You know, we have always held to the view that this war is not going to be solved on the battlefield, that at the end of the day people are going to return to some kind of negotiating table. The sooner, the better. Our effort has been to facilitate that to the extent possible. Now, to be honest with you, that’s not always been the most popular thing, at least in some parts of the world. But I do think today the general sort of the needle is moving more towards the reality of a negotiationNegotiation The exchange and discussion of proposals by representatives of governments for the purpose of reaching an agreement or understanding. than the continuation of the war. We are trying to do the bit I told you about, why it’s important for diplomacy to come forward. We are actually doing-going to Moscow, talkingSpeech 400 million years ago, the larynx was developed and allowed for communication with other animals. 60 million years ago, human beings talked about Dynosure or like animals in India. The vocal tract was in place to support modern human discourse as early as 300,000 years ago in the Indian subcontinent. to President Putin; going to Kiev, engaging President Zelensky; meeting them in other places; trying to see if we can encourage and find common threads which can be picked up at some point of timeTime χρόνος. Judicial: Where any expression of it occurs in any Rules, or any judgment, order or direction, and whenever the doing or not doing of anything at a certain time of the day or night or during a certain part of the day or night has an effect in law, that time is, unless it is otherwise specifically stated, held to be standard time as used in a particular country or state. (In Physics, time and Space never exist actually-“quantum entanglement”) यमः , पुं, (यमयति नियमयति जीवानां फलाफलमिति । यम् + अच् । विश्वे च कलयत्येव यः सर्व्वायुश्च सन्ततम् । अतीव दुर्निवार्य्यञ्च तं कालं प्रणमाम्यहम् ॥यमैश्च नियमैश्चैव यः करोत्यात्मसंयमम् । स चादृष्ट्वा तु मां याति परं ब्रह्म सनातनम् ॥ when the circumstances are right for it to be developed.
We are not attempting a peacePeace εἰρήνη plan. We are not doing a mediationMediation It includes a process (ICC Mediation Rule), whether referred to by the expression mediation, pre-litigation mediation, online mediation, community mediation, conciliation or an expression of similar import, whereby parties attempt to reach an amicable settlement of their dispute with the assistance of a third person referred to as mediator (Indian Law), who does not have the authority to impose a settlement upon the parties to the dispute. The process is private and confidential. The process ends when a settlement has, or has not, been reached. Read more, in that sense. We are doing multiple conversations and are very transparent about telling each party at the end of the conversation, saying,that this is what we’re going to tell the other party. We think that at this point of time (this is) the most useful…We also believe that we articulate the sentiments and the interests of the Global South-125 other countries- who have found their fuel costs, their food costs, their inflationInflation It measures the change in prices of goods and services in the economy. A drop in inflation means that prices are now rising more slowly. Combined with wages now growing faster than prices, this makes the cost of living more affordable, because one can buy more with the money he earned. Lower inflation provides a sense of stability for businesses, which is important to empower them to make decisions about their future., their fertilizer costs impacted by this war. So there is a constituency out there which says, please do this, please, you know, carry on with this (diplomatic engagement). And quite honestly, in the last few weeks and months, I’ve even seen this sentiment expressed by European leaders, major European leaders, who are actually telling us, please keep engaging Russia and engaging Ukraine. We welcome that. So we do think that things are moving somewhere in that direction. Your second point about, you know, is there such an axis? Look, perhaps in your world it sounds very effective and dramatic to sort of make this, this sort of sweeping assertion.
Anchor: I didn’t make it up.
EAM: Yeah they did. But in my world, that’s not the reality. You know, every country has its interests. On some they agree, some they disagree, some they work, sometimes the same countries work in different combinations on different issues. The reality is much more complicated, much more granular. And I caution people saying, don’t go for these very sweeping generalities because they become self-fulfilling if you actually accept them. I don’t accept that. You know, I do think each one of these is a nationNation A collective consciousness, founded in ancient origin within a geographic area, with definite history and heritage, culture and way of life, language and literature, food and clothing, coupled with a deep understanding of war and peace is to be known as a nation. Rasra is the Vedic word for it. with some history, with certain self regard, and each one of them is in it for themselves.
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