Russian FM Lavrov to attend G20 Foreign Ministers' meet in India next month

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be on a three-day visit to India to participate in the G2O Foreign Ministers' meeting in New Delhi from March 1-2, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Taking to Twitter, Russia's Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov will also meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during his visit from March 1-3.

"March 1-3, New Delhi, negotiations with Indian FM @DrSJaishankar & participation in the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the #G20 Member States," the Ministry tweeted.

The foreign ministers of the Group of Twenty (G20) countries are set to meet in New Delhi in March.

India's special invitee guest countries are Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and UAE. India is hosting G20 meetings across several cities around the country.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also tweeted that he will hold meetings with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and will also negotiate with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov from February 27-28.

Earlier, in January, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also said that India would host G20 foreign ministers meeting.

"There is a G20 calendar that we announce as we go along. ...Yes, there will be foreign ministers meeting. We will host G20 foreign ministers meeting as is customary. I think it will be in Delhi, that's the plan. Let's lock it in and we will announce (other details) when it is appropriate," Bagchi said.

This year, the G20 presidency is being held by India. The annual G20 summit is slated to take place in the Indian capital on September 9-10 and New Delhi plans to showcase its cultural history in more than 200 meetings in 55 different sites across the nation as part of the group's activities.

"The sense of ownership over natural resources is giving rise to conflict today and has become the main cause of the plight of the environment. For the safe future of the planet, the sense of trusteeship is the solution. LiFE i.e. 'Lifestyle for Environment' campaign can make a big contribution to this. Its purpose is to make sustainable lifestyles a mass movement," Modi said, during his address at the G20 Summit that took place in Indonesia in 2022.

India assumed office on December 1, 2022, for a one-year period for the G20 chairmanship.

Talking further about India's presidency of the G20 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the country is taking charge of the G20 at a time when the world is simultaneously grappling with geopolitical tensions, economic slowdown, rising food and energy prices, and the long-term ill effects of the pandemic. And at this time "the world is looking at the G20 with hope," he added.

The cooperation between India and Russia in the military-technical sector remains huge. The production of T-90 tanks, Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter jets, AK-203 assault rifles, and other weapons in India is in full compliance with the requirements of the government program "Make in India," the Russian Embassy in India, stated earlier in an official statement.