Putin’s Visit to India Will Boost Bilateral Relations

According to India's Ministry of External Affairs, Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India will be a landmark event and is expected to provide a fresh impetus to the existing excellent bilateral relations between the two countries.

NEW DELHI, December 5 (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India in December will boost the Indo-Russian relations, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

"President Putin's visit is a landmark event and is expected to provide a fresh impetus to the existing excellent bilateral relations between our two countries," the statement published on the Indian government's Press Information Bureau said.

Putin will visit India on December 10-11 to co-lead the 15th Annual India-Russia Summit. According to the statement, Putin will be accompanied by a business delegation in addition to high-ranking officials. Separate talks are also scheduled to be held between Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"A dominant theme of this Summit will be the spelling out by the two leaders of a joint vision of our relationship for the next decade. It will provide a roadmap for enhancing the partnership between our two countries to qualitatively new levels," the statement added.

A number of documents on bilateral cooperation in the fields of defense, nuclear energy, customs, banking and energy will be signed during the summit.

The annual India-Russia summits have been underway since October 2000 on the initiative of Putin. According to the statement, the summit has advanced the relations between Russia and India all the more. The upcoming summit will follow the one that took place last year, when the Indian premier was Manmohan Singh.