External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be travelling to Moscow later this week to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov with discussions on bilateral and strategic partnership, preparations for the upcoming 2021 summit, cooperation in battling the Covid-19 pandemic and Afghanistan.
Lavrov was in India in the first week of April and had invited Jaishankar to pay a return visit to the Russian Federation.
The two countries have maintained direct contacts, including at the highest level, over the past few months.
After Lavrov's visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 28, setting the template for a new round of engagement on a higher plane.
While Putin appreciated the approval for Sputnik-V vaccine's use in India, PM Modi had also spoken about the support received from Russia for India's Gaganyaan Program and the scope for increasing cooperation in the area of renewable energy, including the Hydrogen economy.
Recalling the important decisions taken during their last India-Russia Summit meeting in Vladivostok in September 2019, the leaders had decided to establish a new 2+2 dialogue at Minister level comprising Foreign and Defence Ministers from both countries.
Last week, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Igor Morgulov and D.B. Venkatesh Varma, India's Ambassador to Russia, met and discussed issues on the bilateral and international agenda, including the schedule of Russian-Indian contacts in the near future.
Jaishankar and Lavrov are expected to start their interaction from where they had left in April, discussing in detail strategic (Military-Technical Cooperation or the MTC), economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation between both the nations besides the current situation in Afghanistan.
Thank FM Sergei Lavrov for convening the Russia-India-China (RIC) Meeting of Foreign Ministers today. A productive exchange of views on the global order, multilateralism, multipolarity and convergences.
My opening remarks: https://t.co/kcQn1qKVSy pic.twitter.com/Pn9sQgKwOE
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 23, 2020
The two ministers had also discussed the Syrian crisis, the situation around Iran’s nuclear programme and the developments in Myanmar in April besides reviewing the situation in Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific Region as a whole, including ties with ASEAN. Jaishankar had also spoken about his discussions with the Russian Foreign Minister on connectivity, including the International North-South Transport Corridor and the Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor.
The EAM, during his forthcoming visit, will also be discussing in detail Putin's possible visit to India for the summit between the two countries, later this year.
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