Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: How do you view the India-Italy relationship?
EAM: Very positively. I was at Rio when our Prime Ministers met last week. They announced a Joint Strategic Action Plan. There was also a good discussion of our shared regional interests and cooperating from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. We count on Italy's support in our growing engagement with the European Union. All these facets reinforce each other.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: Do you think there is a case for India and the EU coming even closer together and cooperating more on trade matters, if and when the US turn more protectionist vis-a-vis the rest of the world?
EAM: Absolutely. There is a strong case even otherwise. We are among the major economic centers of the world today. The EU is India's largest trade partner and a key investor. 6000 European companies are present in the Indian economy. But all these numbers could be much larger. Not having a mutually beneficial arrangement harms both of us. The challenge is to settle on the terms. Because the EU brings up many non-trade issues in the negotiations, it is more complicated than a normal FTA. But we have been negotiating for some years now. I can see a growing strategic understanding of why we need to bring it to a close.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: Donald Trump has a new team of the appointees. What's your impression?
EAM: We had a good relationship with President Trump in his first term. When we look at his new team, many of them are familiar faces for India. The nominated Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is a very senior senator.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: Trump has been talking about a tariff 10% to 20% for all countries except 60% for China. Is that a concern?
EAM: Let's wait and see. Nobody in policymaking is going to make guesses before things happen.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: You are in Fiuggi for the outreach session of the G7, including a discussion on the Indo-Pacific.
We see a number of countries in the region complaining about pressure from China. Is such pressure pulling other countries closer together in cooperation?
EAM: My life doesn't revolve around another country. My life revolves around my interests. My interests are to see a stable region, a more cooperative and prosperous one. We are looking for partners with whom we work. I think, in international relations, countries need to work with each other and get along with each other. They don't do it because some other country has a viewpoint. They do it because it's in their interest.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: The ICC has indicted Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu. India is not a signatory to the ICC. Do you think these actions taken by the prosecutors are more part of the solution or part of the problem in trying to solve the ongoing wars?
EAM: Indeed, we are not members of the ICC. When you're not members of a body, that already tells you what your views are about that body.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: You seem to think that it's not that helpful...
EAM: There's a good reason why we're not members.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: Russia is attacking the international order, venting nuclear threats, violating borders, broadening the conflict through North Korea, and Yemen. Even Indian recruits have been duped into the Russian army. Yet India, in a way, is taking advantage by buying below market price oil from Russia and thus financing this war of aggression. What's your answer to that?
EAM: This part of the world has to understand that every part of the world has its interests. The priorities of Europe will naturally differ from the ones of countries in Asia or Africa or Latin America. If everything is a matter of such a deep principle, then Europe itself should have cut off all its business with Russia, but it doesn't do that. It's been very selective and paced its disengagement very, very carefully. So to say this region (Europe) will worry about its people, and others should not worry about what the impact will be on them, is not reasonable. And please understand one thing. Europe was importing energy from Russia. Europe then started diverting to other producers and that put pressure on the market. So what are we supposed to do? Pay higher prices just to make you happy? Life is about respecting other people's interests, not about having everything your way.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: On climate, Europe is trying to show the example to the world, setting ambitious targets that probably are never going to be reached. Don't you think a more effective strategy would be to finance emerging countries' transitions rather than overburden the EU industry?
EAM: Well, look at the record of Europe in terms of its global commitments. And now are you going to tell me that Europe will finance other people as a solution to the Ukraine impact?
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: Do you think there is no credibility in such commitments?
EAM: I think the record speaks for itself. Look, these are very nice theoretical propositions you are making. If you want to find a way out, I would put it to you, concentrate on dialog and diplomacy. Find a way of ending the conflict, because everything you are saying is about perpetuating the conflict.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: You mean conflict in your Ukraine?
EAM: Yes. We think that there should be diplomacy to find a way of ending the conflict. And that's what we are trying to do.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: What are the pathways that you see?
EAM: Engaging the participants. So you have to talk to Moscow and you have to talk to Kyiv. And that's what we are trying to do. Look, it's now nearly three years. You're not going to get a solution from the battlefield, right? We have to negotiate. At some stage, people will come to the table. The sooner they do it, the better, because the rest of the world is affected. It's not just that Europe is taking the brunt of this conflict. Everybody else's life is also impacted by what is happening. So do understand there is a big feeling across very large parts of the world. More effort needs to be done to actually get the participants back to the negotiation.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: Do you feel the Europeans are not trying hard enough to negotiate a solution?
EAM : I didn't say that. I said that to my mind, if at this time, the case for countries taking an initiative to return to the negotiating table is compelling. And I would say to you this is a very widespread sentiment in the world.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: Much depends on what Putin really wants, because if the goal is to conquer parts of Eastern Ukraine is one matter. If it is to control the government in Kyiv through a puppet or rewrite the European order is a different matter. Don't you think so?
EAM: Look, when you do diplomacy, it cannot be a hypothetical exercise on what another person could want. You know it only when you test it. We are not offering a magic solution. We are only making the point today that after more two and a half years of fighting and seeing that we're not going to get a solution from the battlefield, it's common sense that some country or some leader or some set of people make an effort, talk to the two sides, try to find some common element. This is what my Prime minister has been trying to do in the last few months. He met Zelensky in Puglia in June. Then he met Putin in Moscow in July. Then we went to Kyiv in August. Then he met Zelensky again in September. And we just met Putin in October.
Interviewer, Corriere della Sera: So, what's your sense?
EAM: We will know what Russia wants or Ukraine wants only when they get down to the negotiation. We have today two major conflicts taking place simultaneously. This is putting the entire international system under great stress. And we cannot be just spectators and say, well, that's the way it is. It may or may not work. We will not know until we try. But we do believe that on both these conflicts, in Ukraine and in the Middle East, countries need to take initiatives, make efforts, however difficult it looks, to try and find some common ground, something better than what we have today.