Russian President Vladimir Putin Visits India Thursday Dec 11,2014

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Delhi late on Dec 10,2014 Wednesday night for the annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday Dec 11,2014

Vladimir Putin, who is accompanied by a high-level delegation that included business tycoons, was received by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan among other dignitaries.

 After the talks at Hyderabad House, the two sides are likely to ink 15-20 pacts.

The talks at the highest level have been taking place since 2000 alternately in Moscow and New Delhi.

It will be the first annual summit meeting between Putin and Modi. The two leaders had met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brazil in July 2014 and during the G-20 summit in Australia in November 2014

Vladimir Putin termed ties with India as "privileged strategic partnership" and said construction of new nuclear plants besides military and technical cooperation was high on the agenda for talks. He said Russia was keen to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India and involve ONGC in oil and gas hunt in the Arctic.

Energy-starved India, which is the third largest oil importer after the US and China - has been pushing for greater involvement in major gas and oil exploration projects in Russia and both the leaders are set to discuss the issue. Russia is one of the top oil producers globally and has huge reserves of natural gas.

In the nuclear energy sector, Russia may offer to set up a total of 20-24 nuclear energy production units in India against previously agreed 14-16 plants

India's exports, particularly food items, to Russia have gone up since sanctions were imposed against that country by Western nations for its interventions in the crisis in Ukraine.

Russia is the world's top producer of rough diamonds and India is one of its largest importers. Putin will also inaugurate World Diamond Conference on Thursday.

Russia has been a major defence supplier to India and its share has been 60-70 % in the country's import of military hardware

India and Russia Sign 7 Pacts,13 Commercial Contracts
The 7 Pacts are -
1)Co-operation in External Affairs
2)Defense Training
3)Atomic Energy -will supply 10 new reactors over the next 20 years
4)Data Non-disclosure
5)Oil and Natural Gas
6)Tie Up in Health Research
7)Building Accreditation Systems