Washington, Kyiv and Moscow have resumed trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent telephonic conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a call thereafter from external affairs minister S Jaishankar to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov highlight New Delhi’s accelerated efforts to facilitate peace and operational agreements between the two warring countries.
This is a key concern since India has faced an upward trajectory in retail inflation — though still within the RBI’s tolerance band of 4±2% — driven largely by rising food prices. A workable agreement between Ukraine and Russia, at least on Black Sea food corridors, would therefore be welcome. After giving a peace proposal last month that Ukraine deemed the most comprehensive one, India, a neutral party in the ongoing conflict, has reiterated the importance of safe food corridors in the Black Sea region. With a combination of hostile factors, from El Niño effects on rainfall to conflict-driven volatility in fuel prices, the outlook on food inflation seems worrying in the near term.
