Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh left for Moscow a short while ago on the first leg of his five-day official visit of Russia and China. In his departure statement, Dr. Singh said his visit to Russia and China would create new strategic opportunities for the country's growth, prosperity and development in a stable and external environment.
Dr. Manmohan Singh said the annual Summit with Russia is an important feature of special and privileged strategic partnership between both the countries.
He said the scope for India's relation with Russia is unique, encompassing, strong and growing cooperation in areas including defence, nuclear energy, science and technology, hydro-carbon, trade, investment and people to people exchanges. He said India and Russia have also had a convergence of view on global and regional issues and India value Russia's perspective on international developments of mutual interest.
The Prime Minister said that his visit to Beijing would afford him the opportunity to continue the discussions with the new leadership of China.
He said both the countries have reached important consensus on maintaining peace and tranquility on the border and made preliminary progress towards settlement of the India-China boundary question.
He said peaceful, friendly and cooperative relations between India and China have provided conditions for both the countries and the wider region to grow with stability.
He said during his visit, he would discuss with his Chinese interlocutors ways and means to consolidate common strategic interests of both the countries.
Prime Minister's main engagement in Moscow will be his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow. A Joint statement will be issued at the end of the talks, touching on bilateral as well as global issues. A few agreements will also be signed in diverse areas such as science and technology, energy efficiency and standards between both the countries.
Dr. Singh will be conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. The Prime Minister will be attending the 14th India-Russia Annual Summit on Tuesday. On the margins of the Summit, he will have a meeting of the newly re-constituted CEO’s Council.
Both India and Russia are working out a techno-commercial agreement for the third and fourth reactors of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant and India will also be seeking to tap Russia's vast reserves of hydrocarbons for its energy requirements. Both the countries have witnessed 24 percent rise in bilateral trade over the last year to cross 11 billion dollars and are hopeful to reach 20 billion in 2015. On Afghanistan, Russia and India have been consulting each other on all aspects of the issue.
In the 2nd leg of his two nations tour, the Prime Minister will pay an official visit to Beijing from Tuesday to Thursday. This is the second bilateral meeting between Dr. Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang this year. Dr. Singh is also scheduled to address students at the Communist Party of China’s, CPCs secretive Party School in the suburbs of western Beijing.
