The visit to the Russian Federation by H.E. Mr. A.K. Antony, Defence Minister of the Republic of India, from 3-5 October 2011, reaffirmed the strong and enduring ties between India and Russia. H.E. Mr. Antony was accompanied by a high-powered delegation including Mr. S.K. Sharma, Defence Secretary and Mr. Shekhar Agarwal, Secretary Defence Production. Defence cooperation is one of the main pillars of the special and privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia. H.E. Mr. Antony laid a wreath at the Memorial of the Great Patriotic War at Victory Park on 4 October 2011. He was accompanied to the ceremony at the Memorial by Colonel General O.L. Salyukov, Assistant Chief of General Staff, Russian Armed Forces and Major General Y.A. Seleznyov, Commandant of the Moscow Military District, and high officials of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
The 11th Meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) was held in Moscow on 4 October 2011 and was co-chaired by H.E. Mr. A.K. Antony, Defence Minister of the Republic of India, and H.E. Mr. A.E. Serdyukov, Defence Minister of the Russian Federation. Its plenary session was preceded by a restricted meeting at which a number of important projects relating to bilateral military technical and defence cooperation were discussed. This plenary session was addressed by H.E. Mr. Serdyukov and H.E. Mr. Antony and was followed by their signing of the Protocol of the 11th IRIGC-MTC. Issues discussed included the joint projects on the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, Multi-role Transport Aircraft and the Brahmos missile, as well as the refit of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (ex-Admiral Gorshkov), the construction of the Project 1135.6 frigates at Kaliningrad and the indigenous production of the Su-30 MKI aircraft and T-90 tanks in India.
H.E. Mr. Serdyukov hosted an official banquet in honour of H.E. Mr. Antony on 4 October 2011. The banquet speeches on the occasion reflected the depth and maturity of the defence relationship and the close, warm and friendly bilateral ties between India and Russia.
H.E. Mr. Serdyukov accepted the invitation of H.E. Mr. Antony to visit India for the next meeting of the Commission in 2012.
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Moscow,
3-5 October 2011
