23 December,2015 11:25 AM IST | | ANI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday afternoon leave on a two-day visit to Russia to attend 16th Annual Summit meeting
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday afternoon leave on a two-day visit to Russia to attend 16th Annual Summit meeting.
The Summit would commence with a private dinner hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Summit would begin on the second day with the Prime Minister interacting with Russian and Indian CEOs.
The talks between the two countries at the highest level have been taking place alternately in Moscow and New Delhi since 2000. The Prime Minister would also visit the Russian Emercon facility, which is an emergency disaster facility. He will be shown how the country handles civil disasters through this.
Prime Minister Modi will also meet Friends of India at the Moscow Expo Centre. During the previous summit, the leaders of the two nations had discussed largely about expansion of economic ties.
He is then scheduled to address the Indian community, after which he would depart for India. The two nations also share close nuclear ties. Russia is already constructing 12 nuclear plants in the country. Further discussion is also expected in this regard. The Prime Minister is also expected to visit Kabul on his way back, but this is yet to be confirmed by the MEA.
Briefing media in New Delhi yesterday, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar told reporters that Prime Minister's visit to Russia is aimed at expanding the special and privileged strategic ties with a particular focus on nuclear energy, hydrocarbons, defence and trade. India and Russia are likely to ink a number of pacts in a range of sectors including nuclear energy and defence. The two time-tested partners will focus on expanding economic ties.
The two countries are aiming at enhancing annual bilateral trade to 30 billion dollars over the next ten years from current ten billion dollars. Besides bilateral issues, the two Prime Ministers are likely to deliberate on a number of global issues having political dimensions including the situation in Syria and ways to tackle terrorism.
