India Has Never Been For De-Dollarisation, No Proposal For BRICS Currency: Jaishankar

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India has never been for de-dollarisation and there is no proposal of having a BRICS currency. Jaishankar's remarks have come after the US President-elect Donald Trump threatened with 100 per cent tariffs if BRICS attempts to de-dollarise.

“We have always said that India has never been for de-dollarisation and right now there is no proposal to have a BRICS currency. The BRICS do discuss financial transactions, US is our largest trade partner and we have no interest in weakening the dollar at all. We had a good relationship, a very solid relationship with the first Trump administration, yes there were some issues mostly trade related but there were a whole lot of issues on which President Trump was very international. And I remind people that it was actually under Trump that the QUAD was restarted. There is a personal relationship between PM Modi and Donald Trump,” Jaishankar said in a statement at the panel discussions as part of the 22nd edition of the Doha Forum on the theme ‘The Innovation Imperative.’

Further speaking on the matter, Jaishankar said, “I think diplomats of the world have to tell themselves that it's a messy world, it's terrible… there are conflicts but therefore there's all the more reason for diplomats of the world to step forward.”

Referring to Trump's recent threats to BRICS about imposing 100 per cent tariff if those countries went ahead with BRICS currency, Jaishankar said, “I am not exactly sure what was the trigger for it but we've always said that India has never been for de-dollarisation. Right now, there is no proposal to have a BRICS currency.” He also explained how countries in BRICS don't have an identical position on the issue.

Answering a question if India has a role to play in Russia, China, North Korea and Iran forming an anti-American, anti-westernism axis, Jaishankar said, “Every country has its interests. They agree on some, they disagree on some. Sometimes the same countries work in different combinations in different issues.” “The reality is much more complicated, much more granular,” he said.

Era of 60s, 70s behind us, says Jaishankar 

“And that era which we saw in the 60s and 70s which is either the Security Council managed it, or a few countries mostly West, the major powers did it. I think that era is behind us, I think all of us in different ways need to step forward. We see Myanmar as almost a kind of forgotten conflict where there's an approach like let's not invite them and the problem will solve itself. So I think there is a greater case for more vigorous diplomacy for more innovative diplomacy for more participative diplomacy,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.

With inputs from PTI