New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said Russia is a long-standing and a steadfast partner for India.
Joint Secretary (Eurasia) Ajay Bisaria, who was briefing the media here about the upcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India for the 15th Annual India-Russia Summit, said this is a very significant visit.
He said it will be the first Annual Summit meeting between President Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The two leaders have already met twice this year. They first met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Brazil in July for what was a very warm and friendly conversation,” he added.
Bisaria said Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned at that meeting that every child in India knows that our closest friend is Russia.
“They met for the second time in Australia for the G20 Summit on November 15-16. The Prime Minister also met with the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Myanmar on November 13th,” he added.
“We attach the greatest importance to our bilateral relations. Our Prime Minister considers our relation with Russia a major foreign policy priority for the country. He has warm recollections of his three visits to Russia as Chief Minister to Gujarat and has been very happy at his interactions with President Putin,” he added.
The Joint Secretary (Eurasia) said New Delhi had intense exchanges with this key partner ever since the new government took office India.
“Russian Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin visited New Delhi in June and in November. During his last visit Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin co-chaired the 20th Session of the Intergovernmental Commission along with our External Affairs Minister,” said Bisaria.
“Our External Affairs Minister has also met her Russian Counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Dushanbe. The Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev visited New Delhi last week for a meeting with our National Security Advisor,” he added.
The Joint Secretary (Eurasia) said Russia is a significant partner for India in strategic sectors like defence, nuclear security and science, including space.
“Russia is also our primary defence partner and will remain so for decades,” he added.
Bisaria said the bilateral economic, commercial and investment ties between India and Russia have been growing but are way below potential.
“Bilateral trade in 2013 stood at about USD 10 billion and is projected to stay at the same level in 2014. We are making strenuous efforts to create conducive conditions for strengthening our economic linkages through trade & investment. We are keenly interested in participating in more hydrocarbon projects in Russia,” he added.
The Joint Secretary (Eurasia) said there has also been a substantial increase in tourist inflows between the two countries in recent years.
“The recently announced e-visa facility has also been extended to Russian nationals and this expected to boost tourist arrivals further. Cultural exchange is an important component of India-Russia relations. The “Festival of Russian Culture” is being celebrated in India this year and the “Year of Indian Culture” will be celebrated in Russia next year,” he added.
Bisaria further said Russia is also amongst India’s most important interlocutors on regional, international and multilateral issues.
“Our two countries work closely together in international fora, at the United Nations and other groupings such as the G20, BRICS, EAS and Russia-India-China (RIC). The two leaders can be expected to exchange views on the developments in the regions and developing cooperation in forums where we are members,” Bisaria said.
“We have an identity or similarity of views with Russia on important global issues including on threats from terrorism, particularly in our shared neighbourhood, on multi-polarity as an important element in the global architecture and the need to defuse the cold war-like tensions that are increasingly manifesting themselves in global relations. India has said clearly that it cannot be party to any sanctions against Russia,” he added.
The Joint Secretary (Eurasia) said President Putin’s visit is a landmark event and is expected to provide a fresh impetus to the existing excellent bilateral relations between the two countries.
“A dominant theme of this Summit will be the spelling out by the two leaders of a joint vision of our relationship for the next decade. It will provide a roadmap for enhancing the partnership between our two countries to qualitatively new levels,” Bisaria said.
“It will have a strong focus on redefining the economic partnership between our countries. Several documents are under preparation for signing at the Summit, in the fields of defence, nuclear energy, customs, banking and energy,” he added.
