Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday that India and China can play a role in finding a solution to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Her comments came after holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"Actors like China and India can and must play a role in resolving the conflict," Meloni was quoted as saying in Italian media. "What must not happen is to think that the conflict can be resolved by abandoning Ukraine to its fate," she said.
Speaking at the 50th edition of The European House – Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy, Meloni said, “It is obvious that if the rules of international law are broken, we will get a multiplication of chaos and crisis, but it is also obvious that with the multiplication of crisis, we will have a natural fragmentation of the geo-economic space, that is, in the long run, economic globalization and questioning of the rules of international law will not walk together.”
"This is what I also said to my Chinese counterparts, we must choose, because the two things do not go together, it is also the reason why I think that in the end nations, like China and India, can play a role and must play a role in resolving the conflict in Ukraine," Meloni was quoted by IANS as saying.
"The decision to support Kyiv is in line with Italy's national interest and will never change," Meloni said, reaffirming her government's full support for Ukraine, news agency PTI reported.
The Italian prime minister's comments at northern Italy's Cernobbio city came two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin named India, Brazil and China as possible intermediaries that could play a role in resolving the conflict.
On Thursday, Putin, speaking at a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok, said that he was in touch with India, Brazil and China on the Ukraine conflict.
"First of all, it is Chinese People's Republic, Brazil and India -- I am in contact with my partners and I have no doubt that the leaders of these countries – and we have relations of trust and confidence with one another – will be really interested and provide a helping hand," he said.
His remarks came in response to a question on possible countries that can act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kyiv last month during which he conveyed to Zelenskyy that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an "active role" to restore peace in the region.
The prime minister said India was on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict and he would even like to contribute personally for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
Modi's nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine on August 23, the first by an Indian prime minister since its independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
(With inputs from agencies)
