(VOVWORLD) -India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday began a two-day visit to Russia, the first visit by the Indian government leader in five years.
High on the agenda is Mr. Modi’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. Although Russia and India established an annual summit mechanism in 2000, this is Modi's first visit to Russia since 2019 and the first time in nearly two years that the two heads of the state met in person in September 2022 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Uzbekistan.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said, “The 22nd India-Russia summit would provide an opportunity for the two state leaders to review all whole range of bilateral issues including defense, trade linkages, investment ties, energy cooperation, education, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. They will also share perspectives on regional and global development of mutual interest.”
According to observers, top priority in discussions between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin is economic cooperation. India-Russia trade reached close to 65 billion USD last year with 60 billion USD exports from Russia and only 4 billion USD exports from India.
Kwatra said India was trying to correct the trade imbalance with Russia by increasing its exports. India’s top exported items to Russia include drugs and pharmaceutical products, telecom instruments, iron and steel, marine products and machinery.
Defense will top the agenda. Then comes energy cooperation with than 40% of India’s total oil imports coming from Russia. Another highlight is security and diplomacy as this is the first time Prime Minister Modi has visited Russia since the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine in February 2022. India has maintained a neutral stance on the conflict and promoted economic and energy cooperation with Russia, despite warnings from some Western countries.