Russian-Indian negotiations were held on Russky island on Wednesday. Narendra Modi paid an official visit to Russia.
The leaders began the day with a visit of the shipbuilding complex “Zvezda”. Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi met on the dock of Russky island, friendly greeted each other and talked on the way to the small rocket ship “Uragan”. The plant modernization is led by a consortium of investors headed by "Rosneft". Igor Sechin, the head of the company, outlined its progress to high-ranking guests. Putin presented a model of the largest nuclear-powered icebreaker in the world to Modi.
On the way to “Zvezda” and back The Russian President and The Prime Minister of India discussed many issues. Having returned on Russky island they immediately began negotiations in an expanded format with the participation of delegations. Indian leader thanked Putin for being awarded with the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called - the highest award in Russia. A great honor, it demonstrates the special friendship between the peoples, he said. "Russia is a very close friend and trusted partner of India" - continued Modi. "We have agreed to develop the cooperation between two countries in several areas: defense, nuclear energy, business, space. We agreed to take these relations to a new level ", - he declared, noting that he was impressed by Putin's commitment to develop the Far East.
The Russian President and The Prime Minister of India issued a joint statement. "Russian-Indian relations successfully withstand the turbulence of today’s world. However, they are independent and never will depend on external influence ", - stated in it. Leaders agreed to intensify efforts to eliminate the barriers to mutual trade, customs and administrative barriers. The work in promoting mutual settlements in national currencies will be continued. They agreed to explore the possibility of creating joint ventures in India for the development and manufacture of a civil aircraft.
Moscow and New Delhi strongly condemned terrorism and called the world into creating a united front against it. Also the parties agreed to hold a tiger conservation population forum of high-level in 2020. Also the Strategy on the intensification of trade-economic and investment cooperation was approved. During statements to the press, Putin called Modi "a really great friend of our country", and India - one of Russia's key partners. "Relations between our countries are truly strategic and have highly privileged nature”, - he stressed.
High priority was given to trade and economic relations. Trade totaled $11 billion last year, an increase - almost 17 percent. The Russian leader called the creation of a free trade area of India and the Eurasian Economic Union a common goal. In the nearest future the first round of negotiations on an agreement will be held. Putin and Modi substantively discussed cooperation in the energy sector. A considerable part of Russian exports of hydrocarbons goes to India from the Far East, stated The President of The Russian Federation and invited investors to participate in projects "Far LNG" and "Arctic LNG-2." For 20-year-period, at least 12 nuclear power units will be built.
Putin said that a new edition of the military-technical cooperation for next years was being worked out and noted that Russia not only supplies India with arms but also a joint production of modern military products had been established. "Joint projects for the production the rifles of the Kalashnikov, K-226T helicopters, missile systems are being carried out”, - he mentioned. Modi called PUtin a close friend and he was glad that he had become the first Indian Prime Minister, who visited India. And he was so inspired by the atmosphere that even his Twitter was run in Russian: he published several posts about his trip to the Far East.
"Today we need a multipolar world", - told reporters Modi and said that together with Putin they oppose any external interference in the domestic affairs of other countries. Also Indian Prime Minister said that the five-year "roadmap" for cooperation in hydrocarbon production and LNG development in the Far East and the Arctic region had been agreed. "With regard to strategic areas, such as defense, we have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture for the production of spare parts in India ... As for the joint venture for producing AK-203, it will let us bring our cooperation in the field of defense beyond the narrow scope of relations and give a reliable back in the form of our joint production”, - said Modi.
Kira Latukhina
Original publication: https://rg.ru/
