Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's opening remarks at joint press interaction with President Putin

"Mr. President, you have our deep appreciation for the warm welcome that has been extended to me and the Indian Delegation. We now have a well-established practice of annual Summit level meetings. The last six months have also witnessed an unprecedented exchange of visits between our two countries including those by the President of India and the Chairperson of the UPA Smt. Gandhi. My visit has been preceded by the meetings of the Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation as well as the Joint Commission on Military Technical Cooperation, which we view as two important pillars of our relations.

I am happy to convey that discussions with President Putin today were extremely useful and productive. Our strategic partnership with Russia is characterized by trust and mutual confidence. Personally, I greatly value President Putin's own commitment to the consolidation of our bilateral relations. Our strategic partnership is based on a deep and abiding convergence of our vital national interests. This is a strong impetus for India and Russia to work together on key issues of the day.

I conveyed to President Putin that we cannot be satisfied with the status quo. Our objective is to anticipate what measures we need to take to meet new and emerging opportunities for further strengthening of our strategic partnership, in meeting our respective national priorities as well as in pooling of our efforts in sharing global responsibilities.

India and Russia are large economies, experiencing rapid economic growth. There is thus vast potential for expanding our trade and economic relations even as we integrate with and take advantage of the opportunities offered by globalization. It is with this forward looking perspective that we have agreed to set up a Joint Study Group to examine the feasibility of a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between our two countries. I have assured President Putin of India's support for Russia's accession to WTO. The bilateral Accession Agreement will be concluded at the earliest.

My senior colleague and Defence Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee visited Moscow for the Joint Commission for Military Technical Cooperation which met in Moscow last month. A comprehensive review was undertaken of our longstanding relations with Russia which occupies a special place as the leading supplier of military hardware to our Armed Forces. Our perspective, however, is to move towards collaborative projects involving design, development and production of the next generation military products. India and Russia have identified the Medium Range Transport Aircraft and the Fifth Generation Aircraft as two such projects, and we will continue expert level discussions on them. We are happy that the long awaited IPR Agreement on Military-Technical Cooperation has been concluded today.

We see energy security as an area of tremendous potential. India has made its most important overseas investment in the Sakhalin-I project, which has already come on stream. We are looking at other joint projects in Russia. The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Station in Tamil Nadu, which is being constructed with Russian assistance will be commissioned in 2007-08. We see Russia as a vital partner in furthering the objective of full civil nuclear cooperation between India and the international community. We feel that there is vast potential for the expansion of cooperation in this area, given India's growing energy requirements and the importance of nuclear energy as a clean and viable alternative energy source.

Our discussion on regional and international issues demonstrated once again a meeting of minds. We have a common objection of creating an international equilibrium based on a just and equitable world order. There is hardly an international issue whose solution can be found without Russia's active involvement and contribution. This is a tribute to President Putin's leadership of this great country. I would like to thank him once again for his personal commitment for promotion of relations with India.

I have invited President Putin to visit India and I am happy to state that he has accepted this invitation."