India-Russia Summit: Russian Prez Vladimir Putin To Pay Official Visit To New Delhi On December 6

<p><strong>New Delhi:&nbsp;</strong>The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to New Delhi on December 6 for the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit with PM Narendra Modi.</p> <p>"Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to New Delhi on 6th December for the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit with PM Narendra Modi": MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, as reported by news agency ANI.</p> <p>During the negotiations with PM Narendra Modi, it is planned to discuss further development of relations of the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries, Russian Embassy stated.</p> <p>It informed that the leaders will exchange views on topical issues on the international agenda, including joint work within the G20, BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.</p> <p>Besides the summit, the first '2+2' ministerial dialogue between the Foreign and Defence Ministers of both countries will also be held in Delhi on December 6.</p> <p><strong>ALSO READ |<span style="color: #e03e2d;"> <a style="color: #e03e2d;" title="" href="https://ift.tt/3nTgXyj" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-toggle="tooltip" data-html="true" data-original-title="Story ID: 1495904" aria-describedby="tooltip232086">New Covid Variant Triggers Fresh Travel Curbs &mdash; These Countries Have Barred Flights From Southern Africa</a></span></strong></p> <p>Union defence minister Rajnath Singh and Union external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar will hold talks with their Russian counterparts &mdash;&nbsp; foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and defence minister Sergei Shoigu during their visit on December 5 and 6.</p> <p>Earlier, the Russian embassy had informed about Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu's India visit to hold the inaugural '2+2' ministerial dialogue between the two countries.</p> <p>"On December 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov together with Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu will hold talks in New Delhi with their Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh," a spokesperson of the embassy said, as quoted by news agency PTI.</p> <p>He stated that the ministers are expected to have in-depth discussions of the key regional and international issues including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and developments in Afghanistan and Syria.</p> <p>Russia refers to the Indo-Pacific as Asia-Pacific.</p> <p>The spokesperson stated that both sides are also expected to exchange views on interaction within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral.</p> <p>"In future, consultations in this format are intended to be organised on a regular basis, alternately in Russia and India," the spokesperson informed.</p> <p>India has the '2+2' ministerial format of dialogue with very few countries including the US, Japan and Australia.</p> <h3><strong>Modi - Putin Summit</strong></h3> <p>As per the PTI report, the Modi-Putin summit is expected to produce specific outcomes in further expanding ties in areas of defence, trade and energy.</p> <p>According to the inputs, India and Russia are going to firm up a number of agreements in the areas of defence, trade and investment, and science and technology at the summit.</p> <p>A framework for military-technical cooperation is going to be renewed for the next decade at the summit along with an announcement on a joint commission on technology and science.</p> <p>India and Russia have also reached the final phase of negotiation for a logistics support agreement and it is likely to be signed either during the two-plus-two talks or at the summit.</p> <p>The agreement will enable militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.</p> <p>The summit was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p>Both the countries have a mechanism under which India's prime minister and the Russian president hold a summit meeting annually to review the entire gamut of ties.&nbsp;So far, 20 Annual Summit meetings have taken place alternatively in India and Russia.</p> <p>Russia, being a key pillar of New Delhi's foreign policy, has been a time-tested partner for India.</p> <p><em>(With Inputs From Agencies)</em></p>