Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has said that countries around the world are influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for diplomacy and dialogue to resolve conflicts. Speaking to the media, Goyal said he would not comment discussion between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, but asserted that PM Modi's continuous call for engaging in diplomacy and dialogue to resolve conflicts is being implemented by countries across the world.


"...I would not like to comment on any engagement or discussions that the US and China had but I can surely see that all the countries of the world are deeply influenced by Prime Minister Modi's call to action, both in terms of dialogue and diplomacy to resolve conflict and the effort to end various conflicts around the world..." Goyal, who is representing India at Informal Dialogue of Leaders’ of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on Sustainability, Climate, and Just Energy Transitions in San Francisco, said.


This comes a day after the meeting between Biden and Xi made headlines across the globe on the sidelines of the APEC meet, almost a year after they met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali in Indonesia.


"We’re back to direct, open clear direct communication on a direct basis," Biden said, adding that Xi agreed to high-level communications, as reported by Reuters. He said, "He and I agreed that each one of us can pick up the phone call directly and we'll be heard immediately."


Hours after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden said he still considered him a 'dictator'. He said this when he was asked if he held the same view as before about Xi during a press conference, and Biden said, "Well look he is, I mean he's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who's running a country, a Communist country, that's based on a form of government totally different than ours."


ALSO READ | Biden, Xi Talks Yield 'Real Progress' As Both Leaders Agree On Military Contacts, AI, Fentanyl