H.E. Mr. S.M. Krishna, External Affairs Minister, held an exhaustive bilateral meeting with H.E. Mr. S.M. Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation on 17th November 2011 in Moscow. The two sides reviewed the status of bilateral relations, particularly in the context of the upcoming 12th Annual bilateral Summit to be held in Moscow in December between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Dmitry Medvedev. The two sides also discussed regional, global and international issues.
H.E. Mr. Krishna emphasized that both sides are currently making efforts to ensure that our cooperation in trade and investment cooperation increases both quantitatively and qualitatively so that the target of US $ 20 billion is achieved by 2015 as envisaged by the leadership of the two countries.
H.E. Mr. Krishna stressed that since the declaration of our Strategic Partnership a little over a decade ago, India-Russia cooperation has undergone a qualitative change in almost all areas of our interaction, and particularly the main areas such as defence, space and nuclear energy.
H.E. Mr. Krishna also discussed the international situation, particularly the situation in Afghanistan, developments in the Middle East and North Africa, the Iran nuclear issue, developments in the Asia Pacific region, including the recently concluded APEC Summit. India and Russia share similar perceptions on such issues. Both sides agreed to discuss these issues both bilaterally and at multilateral fora such as SCO, EAS, BRICS and at the United Nations General Assembly and UN Security Council.
H.E. Mr. Krishna’s visit to Russia is an integral part of regular high-level exchanges between India and Russia.
Moscow,
17 November 2011
