Kyiv: First Deputy Minister of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry Emine Dzhaparova on Thursday met the Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma at the 9th round of India-Ukraine Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) and discussed peace formula to ensure lasting peace in the region amid Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Taking to her Twitter account, Emine Dzhaparova said, "Happy to greet@SanjayVermalFSin #Kyiv for Foreign office consultations. We discussed areas of our mutual cooperation & elaborated on #PeaceFormula of@ZelenskyyUa to ensure just and lasting peace. Confident Ukraine-India relationship will continue to prosper."

Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs arrived in Kyiv on July 12 to exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest with his counterpart Emine Dzhaparova at the 9th round of India-Ukraine Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) on July 13.

The Indian Embassy in Kyiv said in a tweet, "Shri Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West), MEA arrived in Kyiv on 12 July 2023 to hold the 9th India-Ukraine FOC with his Ukrainian counterpart, Ms. Emine Dzhaparova, First Deputy Foreign Minister on 13 July 2023 @MEAIndia."

The MEA Secretary and First Deputy Minister of Ukraine's foreign ministry Emine Dzhaparova are also supposed to discuss ideas to enhance bilateral relations.

"The two sides will discuss ways to further enhance bilateral relations and exchange views on regional arid global issues of mutual interest," the Embassy of India in Kyiv said in an official release on Wednesday.

Earlier in April, Emine Dzhaparova during her four-day visit to India said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy of democracy, dialogue and diversification is very important for Ukraine.

She further said that India should be pragmatic in diversifying its energy resources, diversifying military contracts and in diversifying political interaction.

"As my President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, extraordinary times need extraordinary decisions. So of course, Prime Minister Modi with his 3D policy of democracy, dialogue and, to my knowledge, its diversity. I think that this no-era-of-war and strategic application is really, really important," she added.

"We hope that India and Ukraine will be…even though we are distant geographically, but we will become closer physically and politically and in many other ways," Dzhaparova added.

During the visit, Secretary (West) is expected to call on Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk and Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the release added.