External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the margins of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) foreign ministers’ meeting in Pretoria and discussed bilateral issues.

Continuing multifaceted engagement between two large economies! EAM @SushmaSwaraj and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi met on the sidelines of the BRICS Ministerial Conference. Both leaders discussed way to maintain the momentum in bilateral and multilateral cooperation. pic.twitter.com/RkT3bHs3I3

— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) June 4, 2018

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“Continuing multifaceted engagement between two large economies! EAM @SushmaSwaraj and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi met on the sidelines of the BRICS Ministerial Conference. Both leaders discussed ways to maintain the momentum in bilateral and multilateral cooperation,’’ External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

This was her second meeting with Wang in the past two months. She had last met him in April on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ministerial meeting in Beijing. The two leaders are also understood to have discussed the preparations for the SCO Summit at Qingdao in China this weekend at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will represent India.

Meanwhile, the BRICS foreign ministers, who concluded their meeting on Monday night, indicated their disapproval of the US pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, saying all relevant parties of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the issue must fully comply with their obligations and ensure full and effective implementation of the pact.

On the Israel-Palestine conflict, they reiterated that the status of Jerusalem was one of the final status issues to be defined in the context of negotiations between the two sides.

The ministers reaffirmed their support to process of ‘Afghan-led, Afghan-owned’ national reconciliation process in the war-affected nation and welcomed the recent developments to achieve the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

They emphasised the importance of an open and inclusive world economy enabling all countries and peoples to share the benefits of globalisation. They underlined their firm commitment to free trade, and the centrality of a rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory, multilateral trading system as embodied in the WTO.

The ministers deplored the continued terrorist attacks, including in some BRICS countries. And condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations wherever committed and by whomsoever. They recalled the responsibility of all states to prevent financing of terrorist networks and terrorist actions from their territories.