President Zelenskyy proposes India among few Global South countries for hosting 2nd Ukraine peace summit

PTI, Aug 24, 2024, 9:51 AM IST

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KYIV: In a significant move, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday proposed India among a handful of Global South countries for hosting the second Ukraine peace summit and conveyed his idea to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The inaugural peace summit was held at a resort near Lucerne in Switzerland in June that was attended by more than 90 countries and global institutions with a sole focus on bringing peace to Ukraine.

At a media briefing, Zelenskyy said he told Prime Minister Modi that the peace summit could be hosted in India.

“As for the Peace Summit, I truly believe that the second Peace Summit has to take place. It would be good if it could be held in one of the Global South countries,” he said.

“We are very open to it. There are countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye and Switzerland. We are currently talking to those countries on hosting the peace summit,” Zelenskyy said.

“I told Prime Minister Modi that we could have the Global Peace Summit in India. It’s a big country, it’s a great democracy – the largest one,” he said.

However, at the same time, the Ukrainian president said it would not be possible to host the summit in a country that has not joined the communique of the last peace summit.

India had attended the first edition of the summit but refrained from associating itself with the communique that emerged from the deliberations.

New Delhi asserted that it will remain engaged with all stakeholders to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict.

The summit concluded with dozens of countries throwing their support to Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” and calling for talks among all parties to find a lasting solution to the conflict.

Modi on Friday conveyed to Zelenskyy that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an “active role” to restore peace in the region.

His nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian prime minister since its independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that triggered anguish in some Western countries.

“I have come with a message of peace..I want to assure you and the entire global community that India is committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity (of states) and it is of utmost importance to us,” Modi told Zelenskyy during the talks.

The prime minister also asserted India’s strong commitment towards respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.

“I want to assure you and the entire global community that India is committed towards respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity (of states) and it is of utmost importance to us,” he said.

Zelenskyy said India supports Ukraine’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity and it is “critical because everyone in the world must equally respect the UN Charter.”