India's foreign minister says ready to step up on global issues

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar listens during a press conference of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) foreign ministers in Melbourne, Australia, February 11, 2022.

India is prepared to take a much bigger role in global affairs and would help the world with more supplies of wheat to tame food inflation if WTO rules allow, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Tuesday.

"India is prepared to step forward in a much more substantive way on the big global issues, including in the multilateral arena," Jaishankar told a conference as various ministers from Europe and Asia asked him about New Delhi's stance on the Ukraine war, China's rise and other issues.

He said India had already raised exports of wheat to make up for supply disruptions from the Black Sea region and could do more if global trade rules allowed.

Source: Reuters / Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Christopher Cushing