Russia on Wednesday said that the responsibility to organize the trilateral summit between India, Russia and China (RIC) lies with China as per Latin alphabetical order.
"Due to COVID19 pandemic and subsequent waves from 2020 there were no summits between Russia, India and China. There were hybrid meetings between foreign ministers in online format. Today the initiative to hold the RIC summit is upto China and we are ready to comprehensively support… this dialogue between three major powers of Asia who bear special responsibility for upholding security for improving the architecture of international relations in the Asia-Pacific region and for developing economic integration in Eurasia,” Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a press briefing.
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India recently said that the forum allows the member countries to interact on issues pertaining to regional and global interests. “Discussions in RIC meetings pertain to common opportunities and challenges like terrorism, climate change, COVID-19 pandemic, etc." It also provides a useful platform for the exchange of views on regional, multilateral, and global issues of interest,” minister of state in MEA V Muraleedharan had recently said in the Parliament.
RIC took shape in the 1990s under the aegis of Russian politician Yevgeny Primakov. The first informal RIC summit took place in July 2006 on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Russia. The second informal summit meeting took place after 12 years in Argentina on the sidelines of the G20 summit. It was initiated by Russia. The third informal RIC summit took place on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Osaka in 2019. It was initiated by India. The first informal RIC foreign ministers meeting took place in September 2002 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The last RIC FMs meeting was hosted by India in November 2021 virtually. Till date, there have been 3 RIC summits and 18 RIC FM meetings in total.
India and China bilateral ties are at its bottom as the two sides are involved in a military standoff along the LAC in eastern Ladakh sector. “… we do not intend in any way to impose our mediation services, but we will not refuse to help build confidence between India and China, if both sides so desire. Because there is simply no other way than interaction, development and strengthening of ties between these largest Asian countries,” new Russian ambassador to India Denis Alopov had said on the significance of RIC in resolving critical security issues.
