Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

STATEMENT MADE BY PRIME MINISTER SHRI ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE'S AT A PRESS BRIEFING IN MOSCOW

The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee made the following statement at a press briefing in Moscow today.

~I complete my State Visit to Russia with a feeling of satisfaction.

Over the last three days I have had extremely useful discussions with President Putin and other Russian leaders on a variety of bilateral and international relations. This has helped in expanding the areas of shared outlook and adding new elements in our strategic partnership. The issues discussed ranged from cooperation in nuclear energy, science and technology to trade, economic cooperation and investment which will be the engine of future growth in our bilateral relations.

Over the last few years, the complementarities in our economies have enabled our two countries to come together on a number of important fields, which include joint production, and marketing of equipment. We have discussed ways to develop new areas of bilateral cooperation and diversification of our trade basket. We also explored ways in which release of rupee repayment funds for investment in Indian enterprises can generate demand for capital equipment from Russia. Specifically, we discussed the modernization of the Indian Iron and Steel Company.

We shared the view that new areas of cooperation, which will shore up our trade turnover like information technology, infrastructure development, pharmaceuticals and diamonds require monitoring and follow up. Simultaneously, it is to be ensured that Russian imports of traditional commodities like tea and tobacco do not suffer because of lack of rupee payment funds.

We have made a beginning in bilateral cooperation in the field of energy security through India’s largest foreign investment abroad in Sakhalin-I oil and gas project. This process will be institutionalized into a dialogue process on energy security.

The strength of our mutual cooperation is reflected in the fact that we signed a large number of agreements in diversified fields which will take our relationship to new heights.

We had excellent discussions on Afghanistan. There is a close similarity of views on the post-conflict government structure and rejection of any role for the Taliban. Russia has also recognized the inadequacy of the 6+2 and the need to expand it to bring in

countries like India. President Putin, in our meetings, and also publicly, referred to India’s legitimate role in this issue and added that involving India in the wider international consultative process would also be in Russia’s interest.

Our determination to act in concert against international terrorism was reflected in the Joint Statement that President Putin and I signed yesterday. We are happy with the complete identity of views that we have with Russia, rejecting any justification for terrorism and to eradicate it wherever it exists. Partial solutions based on short-term political considerations can only aggravate the problem in the long run. You would recall President Putin’s remarks at our joint press interaction that ~there are no good or bad terrorists.~

I am convinced that the discussions and the decisions arrived at with the Russian leadership will carry us forward to a new level of partnership.