External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar delivered the National Declaration at the 20th East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. | Photo credit: ANI
Recognizing that ongoing conflicts have the potential to disrupt food security and threaten energy flows, India welcomes US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace initiative and wishes for an early end to the conflict in Ukraine, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday (Oct 27, 2025). Speaking at the 20th East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, where he led the Indian delegation, Mr Jaishankar called for deepening maritime links in the ASEAN region and said the world needed “serious” talks on “multipolarity”.
“We are also witnessing conflicts that have significant impacts, both near and far. Deep human suffering is undermining food security, threatening energy flows and disrupting trade. India therefore welcomes the Gaza peace plan. We also seek an early end to the conflict in Ukraine,” Mr Jaishankar said.
Earlier in the day, Mr Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as relations between India and the US remain uneasy after President Donald Trump imposed punitive tariffs on India for buying Russian oil. Trump has called on major buyers of Russian oil to cut Russian supplies in order to get President Putin to make concessions on the war in Ukraine.
On his way to Kuala Lumpur, where he attended talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Sunday, President Trump said that India will “totally cut Russian oil imports”. Meanwhile, Indian officials have reiterated that India will “broadbase” source power to meet domestic requirements.
For his part, Mr Jaishankar did not specifically mention the challenges India faces due to President Trump’s campaign to cut Russian energy exports, but pointed to “reliability of supply chains and access to markets” as an area of ”growing concern”. “Energy trade is increasingly restricted, resulting in market distortions. Principles are applied selectively and what is preached is not necessarily practiced,” Mr Jaishankar said in support of “adjustments” and “durable solutions”.
“Multipolarity is not here to stay but to grow. All this requires serious global talks,” Mr Jaishankar said. He expressed India’s commitment to strengthen maritime cooperation in the ASEAN region in line with the “ASEAN Outlook for the Indo-Pacific” and the 1982 UNCLOS, which calls for freedom of navigation in the maritime domain.
Mr. Jaishankar also announced that India intends to host the 7th East Asia Summit on Maritime Security Cooperation. He recalled that India was the “first responder” during the March earthquake that hit Myanmar and described the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway as a project in which both India and the ASEAN region have “at stake”. Mr. Jaishankar also touched on terrorism and said, “Our right to defend ourselves against terrorism can never be compromised.”
Published – 27 October 2025 22:10 IST
