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| India's ties with other nations not at Russia's cost: President |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Sep 09, 2009, 12:36 IST |
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Brushing aside reports that India is moving away from Russia, President Pratibha Patil has said New Delhi's ties with other countries would not be at the cost of Moscow.
New Delhi's ties with Moscow are on strong foundations and "would not be affected by our relationship with other countries," Patil, who returned last night after a seven-day visit to Russia and Tajikistan, told reporters.
"India really appreciated Russia's support in the economic, energy, defence and nuclear fields and that our relationship stood on its own," Patil said adding she conveyed this to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, with whom she had wide ranging discussions on further diversifying and strengthening the engagement by the two countries.
Patil, who also had a detailed discussion with her Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, spoke in detail about the potential of cooperation, especially in energy sector.
"The two countries are in agreement that there is ample potential for expansion of cooperation in the fields of energy including hydrocarbons and peaceful uses of nuclear energy, military technical cooperation, space and information technology", she said.
Observing that the issue of bilateral trade came up for discussion on several occasions, Patil said both countries felt that the trade target of ten billion dollars by 2010 appeared achievable despite the ongoing global financial crisis.
Patil, the first President to visit Tajikistan, said she had fruitful exchange of views on global and regional issues with her Tajikistan counterpart Emomali Rahmon and both sides identified new areas for further diversifying bilateral ties.
Assuring India's commitment to assist Tajikistan, a young nation, in its efforts at building itself, she said New Delhi was willing to share its experience in human resource development, agriculture, science and technology, information technology, health and education.
Officials, who were part of the delegation level talks, said Tajikistan was keen on India joining hands with it on exploration of Uranium deposits and tapping hydro-power potential.
Both sides agreed on the need for establishing direct air links between New Delhi and Dushanbe.
Officials said that since a large number of pilgrims from Srinagar visit the shrine of sufi saint Syed Hamadoni, a poet and prominent scholar who brought Islam to Kashmir in the 14th century in Kuliob in Tajikistan, an air link could be thought of between New Delhi-Dushanbe-Kuliob.
A separate air connectivity could be considered between Srinagar and Kuliob, they said.
Noting that Russia and Tajikistan shared the firm resolve of India to fight extremism and terrorism in the region, she said "our cooperation in this area will only grow in the months ahead".
Patil also extended invitations to her Russian and Tajikistan counterparts to visit India, which have been accepted.
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