On his working visit from October 8 to 10, the minister will meet with India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and will negotiate with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and Indian Defense Minister Pranam Mukherjee. At the negotiations, Mr. Lavrov intends to discuss the current state of Russian-Indian cooperation and prospects of its further development.
Mr. Yakovenko said meetings and contacts at a high and the highest levels had become regular and relations between the two countries' parliaments, security councils, various ministries and government departments had expanded.
Mr. Yakovenko said he was confident that the Mr. Lavrov's visit "will make a large contribution to the process of strengthening the many-sided cooperation between our countries and will contribute to the close coordination of the Moscow and New Delhi's positions with regard to the most urgent problems of international policy."
Mr. Yakovenko said that in the Russian-Indian dialog on international problems a special emphasis was placed on the necessity of strengthening cooperation in the fight against international terrorism. The sides will also discuss measures for intensifying international and bilateral cooperation in combating terrorism and drug trafficking as well as measures for creating a strong international basis in the fight against religious extremism and separatism.
A large amount of attention will also be paid to the situation in South Asia, the problem of the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the situation in the Middle East and Iraq and improving post-conflict Afghanistan.
