"The main theme of my visit to Russia was to prompt a comprehensive re-engagement between our two countries. We all know about the backdrop of a close and broad-based relationship between India and Russia that has encompassed a variety of fields. In recent years however it seemed that the sense of there being new potential to discover or new ground to measure was no longer as evident.

My intention during this visit was to identify, together with President Putin, those areas in which our two countries could rediscover the potential for mutually beneficial co-operation and so give new momentum to this relationship. Underlying this objective was the conviction that while the international climate has changed, the centrality of India's relations with Russia remains indispensable to the core of our foreign policy. More than ever before it is a factor of peace and stability in international affairs.

The most important element of my visit to Moscow was my meeting with President Putin. I am grateful for the warmth of the reception I received from President Putin and for the time we spent in reviewing the bilateral agenda. I underlined to the President that the support we have received from Russia in the past has been a source of strength and confidence and the special nature of this relationship is something we continue to value. Not only are there no disputes between our countries, we share significant areas of commonality. Both our countries view the world in a like manner and my discussion with President Putin reinforced that belief. Similarly, we have the same aspirations for taking our strategic partnership to new heights, and to orient it to the needs of our time.

As I said in my statement following my meeting with President Putin, we went over the entire bilateral agenda and agreed on time bound steps to deal with issues that are pressing and important. I am glad that during our discussion, we were able to set out a practical and achievable agenda for action in the days ahead. This includes steps to enhance bilateral trade and investment, to deal with consular issues, co-operation in high technology areas, in culture, in defence in well nigh all fields of interaction.

My other engagements in Moscow included a visit to the renowned and historic Moscow State University. I was honoured with an honorary professorship, which I take as a tribute to a tradition of scholarship that has bound India and Russia. I was impressed, both at the Moscow University and in my meeting with Indologists and India Studies Scholars on December 5 with the range and depth of the knowledge of India - including contemporary issues - among Russian scholars. They remain a resource for the India-Russia relationship and we would like to encourage their efforts in our own way. Our Embassy has recently undertaken to make a small contribution to the work of the Institute of Asian Studies at the Moscow University which we hope will be a first step in a newer engagement which will move increasingly towards newer fields of science and technology.

I also met the Russian Defence Minister and the Minister of Energy & Industry. These meetings were useful for assessing the present status in our co-operation in these vital areas and to chart the way forward. Both sectors will continue to be prominent in our bilateral interaction and both sides are committed to closer co-operation.

A delegation of senior India businessmen representing the CII and FICCI also accompanied me to Moscow. I encouraged them to promote greater interaction with their Russian counterparts, utilising the new opportunities that exist. In addition to addressing the business communities of both countries, I also met both Indian and Russian businessmen separately and urged them to tap the existing entrepreneurial instinct to reach a new level of business interaction. This too is a shared priority as President Putin also made the same points when we discussed this subject.

In closing I want to make the point that the India-Russia relationship is such that although this visit was a landmark, it is only one landmark in a long journey that the two countries will make together and which shall be of value and benefit to both."