India and Russia are actively discussing the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals into the national strategic planning system of both countries.

Russia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, S V Vershinin met with NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson Suman Bery on the sidelines of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development held under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council in New York on Friday.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, an exchange of views was held on topical international issues, with an emphasis on the socio-economic agenda and the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals into the national strategic planning system of both countries.

🇷🇺Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs S.#Vershinin met with 🇮🇳Cabinet Minister and Vice Chair of NITI Aayog (India) S.Bery on the sidelines of #HLPF2022.

The meeting focused on issues of socio-economic agenda and integration of #SDGs in national strategic planning of both states. pic.twitter.com/kuGYfWlQDQ

— Russia at the United Nations (@RussiaUN) July 16, 2022

"The mutual intention to increase cooperation, including in the UN, was emphasized in the interests of increasing the role of countries with developing markets in world economic cooperation and searching for collective measures to respond to global challenges, including those on climate change," a statement issued by Moscow said today.

Bery, having the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister, is an experienced policy economist and research administrator who took over as NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson from May 1.

At the time of his appointment, he was a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi; a Global Fellow in the Asia Programme of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington DC; and a non-resident fellow at Bruegel, an economic policy research institution in Brussels. He was also a member of the Board of the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, New Delhi.

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