US President Donald Trump on Thursday said India has been “very good” on the issue of reducing oil imports from Russia, reiterating his claim that Delhi will significantly reduce its energy purchases from Moscow.
Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on his way back to Washington following his summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, Trump was asked about Russian oil purchases.
Trump said Xi has been “buying oil from Russia for a long time. It takes care of a big part of China. And, you know, I can say India’s been very good on that front. But we didn’t really discuss the oil. We discussed working together to see if we could get that war finished.” Trump has been claiming for the past few days that Delhi has assured him that it will significantly reduce its oil imports from Russia. Last week, Trump reiterated his claim that India has agreed to “stop” buying oil from Russia and would bring them down to “almost nothing” by the end of the year.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that India is a significant importer of oil and gas, and it has been Delhi’s consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario.“Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective. Ensuring stable energy prices and secured supplies have been the twin goals of our energy policy.
This includes broad-basing our energy sourcing and diversifying as appropriate to meet market conditions.“Where the US is concerned, we have for many years sought to expand our energy procurement. This has steadily progressed in the last decade. The current Administration has shown interest in deepening energy cooperation with India. Discussions are ongoing,” the MEA had said earlier this month.