Hope to strengthen communication and build consensus with India, Russia at RIC meeting: China

China on Thursday said it hopes to strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust and build consensus with India and Russia at the annual meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries at a time when the world has entered a period of turbulence and transformation at a faster pace.

The Russia, India, China (RIC) Foreign Ministers meeting — to be held via video link on Friday — will have in-depth discussion on several issues, including on combating COVID-19, multilateralism, and international and regional hotspots, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here.

The world is facing the combined impacts of changes unseen in a century and the COVID-19 pandemic, and has entered a period of turbulence and transformation at a faster pace, he said.

“As major countries with global influence and the most representative emerging economies, China, Russia and India hold similar positions and shoulder important responsibility in promoting world peace, stability and development,” Zhao said.

“China hopes to strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust and build consensus with Russia and India through this meeting, and send positive messages to the world of practicing real multilateralism, promoting democracy in international relations, fighting the pandemic together, boosting economic recovery and safeguarding world peace and stability,” he said.

“This is expected to inject more stability and positive energy into the world”, Zhao said.

India took over the chairmanship of the RIC after the last meeting of RIC Foreign Ministers in Moscow in September 2020. Following the meeting, External Affairs Minister will pass on the chairmanship of the RIC to the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China for the next one year, the Ministry of External Affairs said in New Delhi.

Under the RIC framework, the foreign ministers of the three countries meet periodically to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues of their interest.