India to participate in Jeddah conference on Ukaine’s peace plan

The conference is being hosted in an attempt by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to act as a mediator to resolve the dispute and end the conflict which started in February last year.

India to participate in a two-day conference on Ukraine’s peace plan that will take place in the coastal city of Jeddah on August 5 and 6. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed on August 3 that New Delhi would participate in the meeting in Jeddah. Several European nations, the US, China, and Brazil, including Ukraine are also among the countries invited to the conference.

The conference is being hosted in an attempt by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to act as a mediator to resolve the dispute and end the conflict which started in February last year.

In a press briefing, the MEA official spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said, India’s “participation is in consonance with our long-standing position that dialogue and diplomacy is the way forward” to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The MEA spokesperson, however, did not comment on India’s level of involvement. He further stated that India has no plans to hold any Ukraine-related meetings at the next G20 Summit in September.

In May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held in-person talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, where he conveyed that India will do whatever is possible to find a solution to the conflict.

Earlier, during a bilateral meeting with Russian President Putin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 16, PM Modi conveyed his belief that ‘Today’s era is not of war’ and urged the Russian leader to end the conflict.

The upcoming conference is seen as a major effort by Saudi Arabia to discuss Ukraine’s 10-point peace plan, which has been strongly promoted by Zelenskiy. The plan includes punishing those responsible for the war crimes, withdrawing all Russian troops from Ukraine, and restoring country’s territorial integrity, ensuring energy security, food security, and nuclear safety.