Indo-Pacific is best understood through more intensive engagement: EAM S Jaishankar

The Indo-Pacific is a complex and differentiated landscape that is best understood through more intensive engagement, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said here on Saturday.

Jaishankar arrived in Stockholm on Saturday on his first visit as the External Affairs Minister to Sweden to participate in the second EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum (EIPMF).

Addressing the EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial meeting, he said a generous and strategic approach that caters to economic asymmetries will surely enhance the appeal of the strategically important region.

The meeting is taking place at a time when the Indo-Pacific region has seen aggressive actions by China's military in the South China and the East China Sea.

"Indo-Pacific itself is increasingly central to the direction of global politics. Among the issues that it throws up are the problems inherent in the established model of globalisation," he said.

"The more European Union and Indo-Pacific deal with each other the stronger will be the respective appreciation of multipolarity," he said.

Jaishankar said a multipolar world, which the EU prefers, is feasible only by a multipolar Asia.

"In such an engagement with the Indo-Pacific, the EU will naturally seek like-minded partners. India is certainly among them," he said.

"The Indo-Pacific is a complex and differentiated landscape that is best understood through more intensive engagement," he said.

Indo-Pacific and India and the European Union need a regular, comprehensive and candid dialogue, not just limited to the crisis of the day, Jaishankar said.

He said few Indian governments have invested as much energy and effort in engaging the European Union and its member states as the current one.

He said de-risking the global economy now involves both more reliable and resilient supply chains, as well as promoting trust and transparency in the digital domain.

"EU and indeed the world is better off with additional drivers of production and growth," he said.

"Leveraging of market shares, production capacities and resources is an issue that can no longer be overlooked nor can connectivity and project financing any longer be taken at face value," he said.

Jaishankar arrived in Sweden from Bangladesh where he addressed the 6th Indian Ocean Conference on Friday.