EAM to meet Lavrov; Wang Yi visit next wk

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is set to visit India next week for talks on the border issue, days before external affairs minister S Jaishankar travels to Moscow for a trade and economic dialogue with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov, with both meetings crucial for New Delhi's ties with Beijing and Moscow amid strains in the relationship with Washington.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Wang is expected to be in New Delhi on August 18 for talks with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval under the mechanism of Special Representatives for the border issue, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. This will be a followup to Doval’s trip to Beijing last December and part of prepara-

tions for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China at the end of this month for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit, they said.

A meeting between Wang and Jaishankar is not being ruled out, the people said. Within days of Wang's visit, Jaishankar will travel to Moscow during August 21-23 for talks with Lavrov and to co-chair a meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), they said.

This is the main mechanism overseeing trade and economic cooperation between the two sides and the meeting will be an opportunity to discuss matters such as the impact of US President Donald Trump's punitive tariff on India's purchases of Russian crude, the people said.