Modi to visit Russia in early September

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia in early September to be chief guest at the Eastern Economic Forum meeting and will also hold discussions with President Vladimir Putin as part of the India-Russia annual bilateral summit.

Modi had a bilateral meeting with Putin here on Thursday on the sidelines of SCO summit and the two leaders noted that the old relationship based on trust needs to be strengthened further.

Briefing reporters, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said both leaders recognised the special significance of the partnership.

"Both sides recognised that it is an old relationship based on trust between the leadership and the people and this relationship needs to be sustained, developed and given further encouragement," he said.

He said President Putin has invited Prime Minister formally to be the main guest for the Eastern Economic Forum at Vladivostok in early September.

"The Prime Minister has warmly accepted the invitation. This will be a bilateral visit that Prime Minister will make to Vladivostok in early September as the chief guest for the Eastern Economic Forum and thereafter for the India-Russia annual bilateral summit," Gokhale said.

He said the Prime Minister felt that this is a new area of cooperation which must be actively explored by both sides.

Modi informed Putin that India will do serious preparations for the forum meeting to ensure that its participation is meaningful.

Business delegations as well as representatives of key Indian states will visit Vladivostok and Russian Far East prior to Modi's visit to identify to work on potential areas of business collaboration.

Gokhale said the Russian Far East is extremely resourceful and besides oil and gas, it has a number of other minerals and timber.

"This is an area in which we would like to work with Russia because Russia is also an important country in the Pacific region and this is party of our Act East policy," he said.

This was the first meeting between the two leaders since Modi winning a second term in office.

--IANS

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