Defence, nuclear energy, space and trade will be high on the agenda during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Russia on December 23-24 for the 16th Annual Summit talks with President Vladimir Putin. This will be Modi’s second summit meeting with Putin, who visited New Delhi last December.
Terming India-Russia relationship as “special, privileged, strategic relationship,” Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said that several agreements covering a broad range of field is expected to be signed during the visit. Modi and Putin are also expected to discuss global issues, including terrorism and situation in Syria.
Besides, the two leaders will also hold a meeting with the business heads of India and Russia to push bilateral trade and investment. later, Modi will attend a gathering of 3,000 people known as ‘Friends of India’ and visit Russia’s Emercom - its disaster management centre.
According to Jaishankar, expanding economic ties would be a very big priority given the fact that during the last summit the two leaders had given importance to expand economic relations. He said the two countries were aiming at pushing their annual bilateral trade to $30 billion over the next 10 years from the $10 billion at present. “A lot of effort has gone in facilitating trade for instance custom side movement of goods, exhibiting and promoting sale of diamonds. India is pushing for its agro products,” Jaishankar said. India is also likely to work on the Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Zone.
On the Defence and nuclear sectors, though the Foreign Secretary did not spell out details, there are indications that some agreements on sale of military items may take place. “Russia has been a major military and strategic partner of India. There will be a lot of discussions on that,” Jaishankar said. last week, Defence Ministry’s top acquisition council had cleared the purchase of five units of Russian S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems at an estimated cost of Rs40,000 crore. China has also placed an order for ten units of Triumf.
Meanwhile, India expressed confidence in Russia’s support to its aspirations of becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.