External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday confirmed that trade talks between India and the United States were actively going on, but said the process was complex and far from the final.
Emphasizing the importance of mutual benefit, he warned against the conclusions ahead of time.
“Business talks between India and America are going on, negotiations are going on. The team is just going to this point … These are very complex conversations; they are very complex.
Nothing is decided until everything happens. Any business deal should be mutually beneficial; Any business deal will have to work for both countries. We will expect this business deal. Until this is done, any decision on it will be prematurely.
His comments come on the same day when US President Donald Trump recently focused the India-Pakistan ceasefire from conflict to commerce. Addressing American soldiers on a basis in Doha during a Gulf visit, Trump said both New Delhi and Islamabad gave positive reply to their suggestions to carry forward trade rather than enmity.
“I don’t want to say that I had done, but I am sure Narak helped to resolve the problem between Pakistan and India last week, which was becoming more and more hostile, and suddenly, you would start looking at a different type of missiles, and we settled it,” Trump said.
“I hope I will not go out here and find out after two days that it has not been decided, but I think it has been decided, and we have talked to them about business. Let’s do business instead, and Pakistan was very happy with it, and India was very happy with it, and I feel that they are on the way …”
Trump also gave a wide reference to the long history of India-Pakistan tension, saying, “They are all fighting in fairness for about 1000 years. So I said, you know. I can solve it. I can settle. I can settle, and they can solve it together. For a long time. For a long time … it was really going out of control.”
End of enmity, Trump followed the increased tension after the operation vermilion launched by India in the early hours of May 7. Operation targeted nine terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan -occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), in retaliation for the May 5, May 5 terrorist attack. India and Pakistan reached an understanding at the end of enmity on 10 May. (ANI)