Russia president Vladimir Putin will on December 6 pay official visit to New Delhi for 21st India-Russia Annual Summit with PM Narendra Modi. The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi sharing further details said that that 1st meeting of 2+2 dialogue between Foreign and Defence Min of India and Russia will be held in Delhi on 6th December.
"Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will represent Indian side while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu will visit on 5th and 6th December," he added.
During the negotiations with PM Narendra Modi, it is planned to discuss further development of relations of the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries, said the Russian Ambessy.
He said it is expected that the ministers will have in-depth discussions of the key regional and international issues including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and developments in Afghanistan and Syria.
Russia refers to the Indo-Pacific as Asia-Pacific.
The spokesperson said the two sides are also expected to exchange views on interaction within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral.
"In future, consultations in this format are intended to be organised on a regular basis, alternately in Russia and India," the spokesperson said.
India has the '2+2' ministerial format of dialogue with very few countries including the US, Japan and Australia.
The Modi-Putin summit is expected to produce specific outcomes in further expanding ties in areas of defence, trade and energy.
It is learnt that the two sides are going to firm up a number of agreements in the areas of defence, trade and investment, and science and technology at the summit.
A framework for military-technical cooperation is set to be renewed for the next decade at the summit besides announcing a joint commission on technology and science.
India and Russia have also reached the final phase of negotiation for a logistics support agreement and it is likely to be signed either during the two-plus-two talks or at the summit. The pact will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.
The summit was postponed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far 20 Annual Summit meetings have taken place alternatively in India and Russia. Russia has been a time-tested partner for India and the country has been a key pillar of New Delhi's foreign policy.
(With agency inputs)
