Also representing Russia at the meeting were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, First Deputy Prime Minister, Co-Chair of the Russia-India Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation Denis Manturov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Maxim Oreshkin, and Aide to the President Yury Ushakov. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Russia Vinay Kumar and Joint Secretary for the Eurasia Division at the Ministry of External Affairs of India Mayank Singh took part in the meeting on India’s side.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Minister, colleagues, I am delighted to see you.
Your visit today demonstrates the high level of relations Russia and India have achieved over the past decades. We have continued this work across the board by working together at the government level, forging closer inter-parliamentary ties and among economic operators.
I am glad to note that trade between our two countries has increased this year. There was a slight decline last year, but this year it has been steadily rising. Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] deserves much of the credit for this, considering his commitment to keeping a close eye on the development of Russia-India relations.
As we begin this conversation, I would like to ask you to convey my very best wishes to Mr Modi. I hope to see him soon, as we planned, as part of our work within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. It looks like our schedules may also allow us to meet again this year.
We are very glad to see you, Mr Minister. I know that you have already had extensive discussions with your colleague Mr Manturov, who heads the Russian part of the intergovernmental commission. You have probably discussed the most important matters. There are many items on the agenda, which extends far beyond energy supplies. Fertiliser shipments are among these matters. We are doing everything to resolve this issue for Indian farmers and for the country’s agricultural sector. Russia is expanding its exports and is ready to continue doing so. There are other matters too regarding nuclear energy, cooperation in high technology and other sectors – they are all on the agenda, and there has been steady progress on all these fronts.
Welcome, Mr Minister.
Minister of External Affairs of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar:Thank you, Mr President.
Let me first of all begin by conveying the good wishes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Excellency, he has given me a personal communication, which I would like to hand over to you.
This morning we had a meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission. I think that overall, we have a good report to give to you. I think our economic cooperation, trade, energy, fertilisers, nuclear and other dimensions as well – I would be pleased to speak about it in detail – but overall, I think that our economic cooperation has grown very significantly.
Prime Minister Modi looks forward to meeting you at the SCO summit, then welcoming you in India for the BRICS summit. And, in due course, as per your mutual convenience, having the annual summit.
So, Excellency, I think that we have a very strong picture of cooperation to present. And I again thank you very much for the honour of receiving me today.
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