Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: A very good afternoon or good evening to all of you. Thank you very much for joining us today for our weekly media briefing. Before we start, I have one announcement. So, let me start with that. I wanted to announce the visit of External Affairs Minister to the US that is starting from the 11th. So Dr. S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs will visit the United States of America from 11th to 12th April 2022. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh and EAM will lead the Indian delegation at the fourth India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, which will take place on 11th of April in Washington DC. The US delegation will be led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The dialogue would enable both sides to undertake a comprehensive review of cross cutting issues in the India-US bilateral agenda related to foreign policy, defense and security, with the objective of providing strategic guidance and vision for further consolidating the relationship. This 2 + 2 dialogue mechanism as you know, we have with very few countries will also provide an opportunity to exchange views about important regional and global developments, and how we can work together to address issues of common interest and concern. As part of an ongoing and bilateral dialogue, regular dialogue the EAM will also separately meet his US counterpart Secretary Blinken. EAM is also scheduled to meet senior members of the US administration to further advance the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. That's from my side for the announcements. Happy to take few questions on issues that may be bothering you.
Yashee: What is India's position going to be, stand going to be, during the voting of the session against Russia tonight?
Vineet: They say that, the Russian side say that if we abstain, then it would be an affront to them. What exactly would be our position, where we are? Are we threatened by our good old friend.
Neeraj: Sir Neeraj hun News 18 India se, Pakistan mein jo political crisis hai, usspar bharat ka Paksh kya hai? (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Sir I am Neeraj from News 18, What is India's stand on the political crisis in Pakistan?
Sidhant: Sir, there is a ceasefire in Yemen for almost two months. Any reaction from the Indian government, from Ministry of External Affairs on that?
Meghna Dey: Meghna Dey from DD News. Sir we have been sending assistance to Sri Lanka. And anything ahead is also planned, the assistance that is going to be or already demand that has come from Sri Lanka, how are we looking at it?
Amiti: I’m Amiti from The Hindu BusinessLine. Are we facing shipping problem also in sending a consignment especially in agri exports to Sri Lanka?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Yashee on India’s stand in UNHRC and Vineet Ji, you said are we threatened - why should we be threatened? I've always taken the line, we can't speculate. I cannot have a crystal ball. So wait a little while, all I can tell you is I think at 10 o'clock New York time, and I think that should be what 7:30 here, there's a session that has been called, special session of the UNGA and you will see what we have to say. I think we'll have to wait for that.
About the Yemen, I have our position here. We welcome the announcement of the two months ceasefire in the Yemen conflict from 2nd of April at the initiative of the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy, Hans Grundberg. We hope that this truce will lead to a more comprehensive and durable ceasefire and build positive momentum towards an inclusive political process to end the eight year long conflict in Yemen. India has historical and friendly ties with Yemen and hopes for peace, security and prosperity for the people of Yemen as well as for the region.
Aapne puchha Neeraj ji ki Pakistan par hamara kya rukh hai? Jo abhi ke developments hain uski baat kar rahe theey aap. Dekhiye ye andruni mamla hai unka aur ispe actually meri koi tippani abhi hai nahi. Hum uspe nazar toh banaye rakhe hai par androoni mamle pe hum comment nahi karte aise. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) You asked Neeraj Ji, what is our stand on Pakistan? You were referring to the current developments there. This is their internal matter and I don't really have any comments on it. We are keeping an eye on it, but we do not comment on their internal matter.
About Sri Lanka, I think Meghna you asked and Amiti you also asked on that. I don't know exactly what you had in mind, we have shared some information. There are a lot of developments that we are watching closely. We are a neighbour and a close friend. There have been evolving economic situation there as well as other developments. As you are aware, in order to help mitigate the economic situation there we have extended assistance. If you put it together about $2.5 billion worth during the past two, three months, I would say which includes credit facilities for fuel and food which are most required. Since mid-March, over 270,000 metric tons of diesel and petrol has been delivered to Sri Lanka. You would have seen our High Commission yesterday put that figure out. In addition, 40,000 tons of rice have been supplied under the recently extended $1 billion credit line, trade facility. I just want to emphasize the relationship between India and Sri Lanka is rooted in shared civilizational values and aspirations of our two people. Our cooperation based on commonality and interests, has been strengthened in recent months. We see the recent developments in this perspective. And as you asked what else can we do, we stand ready to continue working with Sri Lanka for rapid post COVID economic recovery. This is in line with our neighbourhood first policy, and we have already conveyed to them at various occasions, our readiness to extend whatever support we can and as has been demonstrated by our actions till now.
On Amiti’s question, I don't have a specific comment because I'm not aware and we haven't come across any difficulties of sending materials there because as you've seen, a lot of the material has been delivered. But if there's something specific, I'm happy to look into it. But as of right now, we are not aware of any difficulties that are being faced on that.
Kadambini Sharma: Kadambani Sharma NDTV India, power minister ne kaha hai ki do koshishe hui hack karne ki electricity grid ladakh ke pass, to kya is pe beijing se koi baat hui hai, hogi kuchh bhi ispe line open ki gai hai? (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Kadambani Sharma NDTV India, Power minister has said that there have been two attempts to hack the electricity grid near Ladakh, so has there been any talk on this issue or will there be anything initiated on this issue with Beijing?
Sudhi Ranjan: Sir, Sudhi Ranjan from the Bloomberg. We've recently seen some very strong public statements coming from US officials and the last being from Brian Deese, who is in the White House's National Economic Council. It’s a Bloomberg report, I am following up on that. And who says that, you know, they're disappointed with India’s stand on Russia plus we've seen same from Daleep Singh in India. Would you give us your reaction especially since we have agreed to go for the two plus two?
Suhasini: My question is connected as well without going through the laundry list all the way from US President Biden, to National Security Council officials to the Commerce Secretary to the US deputy National Security Adviser and now the State Department we have heard these comments. In specific I'd like to ask you about the comments by Mr. Daleep Singh, who said that there are consequences to any country that seeks to set up payment mechanisms that could subvert sanctions that the US has placed on Russia and a follow up that we heard from, I think it was the State Department saying that these consequences had been clearly conveyed to the Indian government. So could you give us a sense of what kind of consequences India expects given that External Affairs Minister has said in parliament that under the finance ministry, we are looking at setting up these payment mechanisms.
Takashi: Hello my name is Takashi from Japanese newspaper. I'd like to ask about the Ukraine issues. Minister Jaishankar said India agreed having an independent investigation about the mass killings in Bucha near the capital. So how do you ensure independent investigations while Russia says it's conducted by the Ukraine side and Ukraine side, of course, they say it's conducted by Russia. So how do you ensure? Do you have any specific idea to ensure?
Vijayalakshmi: Vijayalakshmi hun India TV se, jo Kadambani ji ne poochha usi ka ek supplementary sawal hai. State sponsored hackers ke dwara jo power grid ko hack karne ki koshish ki gai, is tarah ki media reports hai, pichhale kuchh mahino mein ye koshishe hui. Kya MEA, Bharat Sarkar ne isko uthaya hai china ke saath ya aage uthane ko issko lekar ke hai. (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Vijayalakshmi from India TV, This is a supplementary question to the Kadambani Ji’s question.There have been media reports on attempts to hack the power grid by state sponsored hackers. Has the MEA, Government of India taken it up with China or planning to take it up?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Let me start with the US ones. I think I have the benefit of having very detailed statement that was made by External Affairs Minister yesterday in Lok Sabha. We also had our statements. So let me rely a little bit on that in trying to answer the various questions that have been asked on this. I think Sudhi mentioned a couple of people and Suhasini spoke about Daleep Singh and then I think that was kind of a sense of what you wanted to go. The issue of whether it's consequences or disappointment or perspectives of other countries. I think the issue was addressed at length by External Affairs Minister yesterday during his statement in Lok Sabha. Let me emphasize couple of these points - as you are aware, we have established economic relations with Russia. Our focus is on stabilizing this established economic relations in the current circumstances. And we've been very open about it. And we've been saying the requirement and the need to stabilize it given the difficulties. So I think that's pretty clear regarding our position. As regards, you know, who is trading with Russia and that kind of line of consequences and what consequences are on that? I think EAM also addressed this in his comments. Let me just emphasize that energy flows to Europe are continuing, fertiliser purchases have been insulated. There are such other examples also. So I think I'll just rely on what EAM said, political colouring should not be attributed to our actions. I think that sums up well on that.
You mentioned Daleep Singh in particular. Look, let me also emphasize another element of his visit, who is I understand the Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics, he's also the US G20 Sherpa. We had broad ranging discussions during his visit on contemporary economic issues, such as working with India and the G20 and our forthcoming G20 Presidency, the infrastructure development, climate finance, critical technologies, and ensuring food security. He also briefed us on the context, objectives and efficacy of US sanctions on Russia. So I think that gives the good sense of how we see these variety of comments as you correctly said. I don't think that it has anything related particularly in the 2 + 2 context, I think as I emphasized, we have a very strong robust diversified relationship with the US and this 2 + 2 is in that context and is something that we're looking forward to.
Kadambani ji aapne aur I think Vijayalakshmi ji aapne bhi poochha ye hacking ke jo stories chale hai iske baaren mein. Dekhiye humne bhi ye stories dekhi hai reports mein. Or main ye kehna chahta tha ki hamara critical infrastructure define kiya jata hai, taki usmen koi dikkate na aaaye or woh resilient rahe. Aise cases mein iske liye ek mechanism hai, ek system hai. To main uske bare mein sirf itana hi kah sakta hoon ki hamare pass hamare critical infrastructure ko bachane ke liye, unko safeguard karne ke liye ek system hai, hmare ek mechanism hai. Par is specific issue pe aapko power ministry se hi poochhana padega. Power Minister ne i think kuchh tippani di hai thodi der pahle media ko. Aapne puchha ki cheen se koi vartalap hui aur kya ye uthaya gaya ? Nahi mujhe aisi koi khabar nahi hai ki hamane kuchh uthaya tha, ye story to abhi ki baat hai, toh mujhe aisi koi nahi khabar hai ki is baat pe kuchh chheda hoga cheen ke saath. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Kadambaniji, you and I think Vijayalakshmi ji, you also asked about this, these stories of hacking that have been running. We've also seen these stories in the reports. I wanted to say that we have defined our critical infrastructure so that it remains resilient. We have a system and mechanisms to protect our critical infrastructure. But on this specific issue you have to ask the power ministry, the power minister has given some statement to the media in this regard a while ago. You asked about any talks with China on this issue and has it been raised with them? No, I don’t have any information on whether this issue has been taken up with China, this story is very recent.
Mr. Takashi asked about Ukraine. Look, I think you saw a statement yesterday of External Affairs Minister on Ukraine on the killings in Bucha in particular. I'm happy you took our position clearly, we have been saying this in the UN Security Council and you saw it yesterday with the External Affairs Minister. Let me reiterate that. Reports of civilian killings in Bucha are deeply disturbing and we unequivocally condemn these killings. We support calls for an independent investigation. And your query was how should we ensure that. Look, the term itself is independent investigation, it has to be in a way that is independent. We are not in a position to insist on how or not are we in a position to conduct it, but the independent investigation would help determine further facts about it. And I think there is clearly an outrage and unhappiness about these developments which have been reflected in our statement. I think that's how I would respond to you. As I said, this have to be independent.We have not made any particular clarification whether this has to be UN monitored or not. I think there should be investigation and obviously, if it's independent, it is better.
Madhurendra: Sir Madhurendra, main News nation se, mera sawal jo maujuda Ukraine war hai usi ke impact ko lekar hai ki lagatar dabav bharat par hai US ki taraf se ki hum trade relations ko curtail karen Russia ke saath to kya uska koi impact dikhai de raha hai ? to kyaa hamane jo maujuda trade relation Russia ke saath hai usmen sanction ke dabav mein koi bhi katauti ki hai aur isi se juda mera doosra sawal hai ki jo oil import hai usko hum kiss tarah se aage badhaenge? Kya uska koi roadmap taiyar kiya gaya hai? (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Sir I am Madhurendra from the News nation, my question is about the impact of the current Ukraine war. There is constant pressure on India from the US side that we should curtail the trade relations with Russia. Are we seeing any impact of it? Under the pressure of the sanctions, have we curtailed the current trade relationship that we have with Russia? And my second related question is, how are we going to take forward the oil imports? Has any roadmap been prepared?
Shalinder: Shalinder from News 18. Will the present suspension of Covaxin supplies through UN agencies impact international travel for those who took Covaxin?
Sanjeev Trivedi: Mera naam Sanjeev Trivedi hai news 24 se, Sir Rupee- Rouble mechanism par koi update hai ? (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) I am Sanjeev Trivedi from News 24, Sir, is there any update on Rupee- Rouble mechanism?
Kalol: Kalol from The Hindu. The US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has asked the Biden administration to criticize the Modi government over its records of treatment of minorities in India. What is your response to it?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Madhurendra ji aapne puchha ki bharat par koi dabav hai trade ke baaren mein. Mujhe lagta nahi aisa koi dabav hai. Dekhiye kuchh jagah sanctions ki baat chal rahi hai jaise USA ne kuchh dala hai aur ye pure trade pe nahi hai jaise maine bataya angreji mein. Kafi sara trade chal rahi hai, oil pe bhi trade chal rahi hai. Toh aise pata nahi aap kiss dabav ki baat kar rahe hai. Haan zahir hai ki har paksh ke taraf se unka apni ek najariya rehta hai ki hum ye kare ye naa kare, par jaisa maine kaha hamara abhi focus yahi hai ki hamara jo Russia ke saath established relation hai economic area mein usko is situation mein, aise haalat mein jahan par sanctions hai, isko maintain kaise kare, isako stabilize kaise Karen, ye hamari focus hai aur usipe hamari charcha chal rahi hai internally or unke saath bhi. To aisa nahi hai ki abhi immediately change hua hai ya kuchh dikkate ho sakti hai, main jaisa keh raha hoon pahle bhi kah chukka hoon ki sanctions ka kya impact hoga ye abhi tak clear nahi hai. Par is samay aisa koi special change hua hai, aisa mujhe gyat nahi hai. Han oil import mein bhi main yahi kahunga ki dekhiye detail aapko janana hai to petroleum ministry hi bata payenge par ye issue bhi vaise chal raha hai ki jaisa mene kaha ki kaafi deshon mein oil import ho raha hai. Hamare yahan videsh mantri ne kaha parliament mein ki hame bhi dikkate aati hai, hum importing country hai or har country apne jarurat ko dekhta hai par hamara import kafi kam hai Russia se, aur dusre desho se jyada aata hai. Toh ismen bhi aise koi immediate change ka muje khabar nahi hai. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Madhurendra ji, you asked if there is any pressure on India about trade with Russia. I don't think there is any pressure. Some sanctions have been put by USA but they are not on the whole trade, like I said in English. There is a lot of trade going, oil trade is also going on. So I don’t know about the pressure that you are talking about. Yes, of course, each side has its own views on what we should do or not do, but as I said our focus right now is on maintaining and stabilizing the economic relationship with Russia in the current situation where sanctions have been imposed. We are discussing the same with others and also internally. It's not that something has changed immediately. There may be some impacts of sanctions on us, but how much it would be is not clear yet. Regarding oil imports also, Petroleum Ministry would be in a better position to tell you the details. Oil from Russia is being imported by other countries. External Affairs Minister said in Parliament that as an oil importing country, we have our own problems and that every country has to take care of its needs. But our import of oil from Russia is very low, we import more from other countries. So in this also I don’t have news of any immediate change.
On Covaxin, I think Shalinder you asked right? This is something that you will probably have to ask the company and WHO, but my understanding is as follows - I think there has been a statement issued by Bharat Biotech as well as from WHO, both of which are very clear in emphasizing that the vaccine is safe. It’s effective. Its efficacy is not in question. There is something about process issues that are being worked out between the company and WHO and you will have to ask them about the details. I certainly do not think there should be any impact at all on people who've taken a Covaxin, which is a safe vaccine in terms of their travel. It continues to be recognized under the emergency use listing of WHO and various countries have already accepted it. And also we have mutual recognition of vaccination certificate arrangements with various countries. That list is available on our website. So I don't think that's cause for worry at all.
On Rupee – Rouble I think Sanjeev Ji you were asking. I wasn't sure what you had in mind on that. As EAM said yesterday, there is an inter-ministerial group headed by the finance ministry that is looking at the impact of how we can stabilize our economic relations. Details of anything you will obviously have to ask finance ministry. But as I said, there are discussions underway to see what kind of payment mechanisms etc. can work in the current circumstances. So I will leave it at that and I think the finance minister may be in a better place to give you further details. But it is something that is being looked at, not specifically Rupee- Rouble, but payment mechanisms.
Kalol you mentioned about a comment by US Congresswoman. I'm not sure I need to react to it. I think this is an issue on which our position is pretty well known. I don't think India is in a situation where it needs to be defensive about it. I think our democracy speaks for itself. And if there are internal issues, I certainly am not going to complicate life just by commenting on something that I've seen on media on this. By that logic, anybody who says something we will have to respond. I think we will wait for it.
Rita: My question is, given your repeated stand for the peace between Ukraine and Russia is there any possibility that India makes a different step in order to (inaudible).
Sidhant: Sir what is New Delhi’s stance on the west saying that Russia should be suspended from the G20 grouping because we are going to host the G20 next year. I know this year Indonesia is the chair
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: You answered my question, but I will say the same thing to you.
Sidhant: But what is the stance.
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: I will come back to you.
Speaker 1: There are reports that Air India flight to Moscow have been suspended today over insurance issues and the insurance provided by international agencies. So is there any plan by government of India to provide any sovereign guarantee?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Okay, let me just take these set of questions. Look, to answer your question Rita, I would again rely on what EAM has said, I think he said it very clearly in Parliament. We in terms of diplomacy are continuing to press forcefully for an immediate cessation of hostilities, we have said that, an end to violence. We encourage talks between Ukraine and Russia, including at the level of the Presidents directly we have said that. In fact, our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi spoke to both the leaders and said this, we made this public. This was also precisely the message that was conveyed to Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, when he was here, you know, just few days ago. So if India can be of any assistance in this matter, we'll be glad to contribute. But at this point, I think we will leave it at that because it depends finally on the two of them, both sides talking to each other. And as we have suggested, finding a way of diplomacy and dialogue forward.
On the Air India flights, if I could take that first. As I've been saying repeatedly, you know, people have been asking us about what is the impact of sanctions? What will you do? This is something that is exactly what we're trying to see how it impacts what are the implications on us. As Foreign Secretary I remember sitting here mentioned, there might be some impacts, we agree that there could be impact of that. I don't have the full details of this. But this is exactly why there are groups looking at what could be the impact of this and what are the ways ahead. But look, what are the remedial measures or if any, that you will have to ask civil aviation on that. I think it's been more in the reinsurance area not so much in insurance. But again, this is a technical area, which I will stay out of.
Sidhant, I don't have a response. As I said, we are looking forward to taking the chairmanship of the G20. This question has not been posed to us as we're not Chair. I don't know what is the thinking of G20. It is a large grouping. I'm not yet sure what is the thinking of other countries. I don't think we have a stance on it. I certainly don't think we have a stance to say Russia should not be in it. But I don't think we have said anything either way. And let's see how it progresses. There is a G20. I think it is finally the chair’s prerogative, but the G20 as a group is something that we value at the international level, the opportunity that it provides of leading economies to discuss issues, topical issues, important issues, so we will probably look at it from that perspective, but I'm speculating here. So let us wait for how it moves.
Speaker 2: Last Thursday, we had a very detailed discussion with Mr. Lavrov and the statement said that the trade economic ties had been discussed in great detail. And he used the word he said that we have to stabilize economic ties. So I wanted to know, what is the meaning of this word stabilized in the context in which he used it? Second is Pakistan has issued visas to 2200 Sikh pilgrims. So are they going to visit Pakistan? Have we given the go ahead for the Baisakhi Festival?
Suhasini: This is just an old older story, which is that there was a report that the US had sent a demarche to India, specifically on the subject of inviting to BIMSTEC, Myanmar Foreign Minister for the summit as well as for the foreign ministers’ meeting, if you could confirm that the US has been in touch on this and what is India's position because earlier you always said that India stands by the ASEAN five point but ASEAN itself has taken the position that non-political representation only should be invited to these conferences, so has BIMSTEC & India in particular, and Sri Lanka decided to go beyond what ASEAN does.
Shalinder: Sir Shalinder news 18 se, aapne dekha hoga ki jab Imran Khan pradhan mantri the, jab assembly bhang nahi hui thi tab unhone address kiya tha nation ko, apne domestic politics mein kahin na kahin unhonne apne speech ke dauran PM Modi ka bhi jikr kiya, or unhone Nawaj Sharif ke sath unko jodkar bola ki woh Nepal mein chhup chhup kar mil rahe the, to is bayaan ko aap kaise dekhte hai ? Kyoki dekhiye internal domestic unaka politics samajh mein aata hai lakin unhone PM ka naam lekar ke baat boli hai iska koi reaction chahiye? (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Sir Shalinder from news 18, you must have seen that when Imran Khan was the Prime Minister, when the assembly was not dissolved, he addressed the nation. In his speech, he also mentioned PM Modi, and associating him with Nawaz Sharif, he said that they were secretly meeting in Nepal, so how do you see this statement? Because I understand that this is his internal domestic politics, but he has taken PM's name, if you could give a reaction to it?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Let me start with the query on Lavrov meeting. Let me clarify, we have an established economic relations with Russia. Okay, that we are aware of we have been saying it, given the current circumstances, you know, post developments in Ukraine, I think there is an effort by both sides to ensure that this economic relationship remains stable and that's why we are saying stabilized. It's not talking about increasing, this was about stabilizing it because this relationship exists and it's in our interest to make sure some of the economic activity continues. And we are trying to see how we can keep that stable in that context. I think that was what I would like to clarify as what I meant when I said stabilized, if you want to know what EAM meant then you have to ask EAM.
Aapne do hazar do sau Pilgrims ke baren mein puchha (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) You asked about 2200 pilgrims. Look on that one, we have a bilateral understanding on this issue. There is an agreement under which people come for religious pilgrimage, visas are issued. We have noted this. I will have to check exactly the modalities of whether all of them will go or when they will go, about that we don’t have the details immediately, because it's a report that came out just now. So I will try to find out more details. Let me check what are the modalities, you know, there have been difficulties in crossing over due to COVID and other restrictions. So let me not make a comment. I will check. I wouldn't like to make comment on something I'm not fully aware.
On the issue of Myanmar's participation in that BIMSTEC virtual summit, the decision of the chair Sri Lanka in this case, which we respected, let me clarify, was that the Myanmar Foreign Minister attend the summit in virtual mode. Let me emphasize that the BIMSTEC is a grouping organized around the geography of Bay of Bengal, it is focusing of course on economic development cooperation, we feel it adds real value to the lives of our people. Our activities, as you are aware, includes cooperation for the effective implementation of SDG targets, cooperation in building capacities in disaster management, etc. Myanmar is an important member of this grouping with important geography that can determine the success of BIMSTEC. We have always welcomed participation by Myanmar in BIMSTEC activities. And of course, as regards our position on developments in Myanmar since last year I think we made clear where we stand and I think there'll be no change in our desire to see restoration of democracy in Myanmar. So I would I would leave it at that.
Shalinder ji jo aapne puchha tha usspar dekhiye unke comment jo , aapne khud hi kaha domestic political situation ke tahat kiya hai, main ussme na hi bolun toh behtar hai, particularly unka koi comment tha ki kaha pe mulakat ho rahi hai, issme foreign policy issue mein koi khaas hai nahi to main ispe koi tippani nahi kar paaunga isape. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Shalinder ji, on what you had asked, and as you yourself said that the comment was made in the context of the domestic political situation, so it will be better if I don't speak at all on it. There was a particular comment regarding the place of meeting, i don’t think it’s related to foreign policy, so I will not be able to comment on it.
Thank you very much for all of you for joining us today evening. See you next week.