On the second day of his Brussels visit, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and had discussions, including about the situation in West Asia and Ukraine. Mr. Jaishankar was invited to interact with Foreign Ministers from the 27-member bloc, during the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday (March 16, 2026), as per a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs.
“We also discussed developments in the Middle East and in Ukraine. De-escalation, stability and energy security are our shared objectives,” Ms. Von der Leyen said in a post on X, about her meeting with Mr. Jaishankar. The EU and India were focused on implementing the trade deal signed in January in New Delhi, “as soon as possible”, she said.
Thanking the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas for inviting him to the Foreign Affairs Council, Mr. Jaishankar said, “Our conversation today therefore covered trade, investment, technology, mobility and defence in particular.”
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