MOSCOW, October 21 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitation to visit New Delhi.
The Russia-India summits are held in Moscow and New Delhi on the rotation basis.
Singh has expressed gratitude to the Russian leaders for hospitality and a warm reception in Moscow. The Indian premier has invited Putin to visit New Delhi. “An invitation has been accepted with gratitude,” according to a joint statement made after the talks between the leaders of both countries on Monday.
Nuclear power
Putin expressed hopes that Russia will participate in the construction of four power units at the Indian nuclear power plant.
“The first power unit was launched at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, it is being connected to the Indian power grid, the construction of the second power unit is about to be finalized, the construction of other power units, probably four power units, is planned,” the Russian president said after the negotiations with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Russian capital on Monday.
Rosatom State Corporation head Sergei Kiriyenko said he did not know when a contract would be signed with India to build the third and fourth units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
“Russia and India have reached agreement in principle. Now legal issues should be resolved by India,” Kiriyenko told Itar-Tass.
The Rosatom head has taken part in the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Kiriyenko said he is hopeful that after the talks it would be clear when the contract was signed.
Kiriyenko quoted Singh as saying on Monday necessary documents would be signed shortly. “We’ve given instructions to resolve the remaining issues as soon as possible,” the Indian premier said.
Kiriyenko said the Russian-Indian roadmap envisaged building the 15 units of the nuclear power plant in India with Russia’s aid.
From two to eight units are expected to be deployed on the Kudankulam platform, the Rosatom head said.
After the talks with Singh Putin said Russia hoped to build four new units in India.
Economic cooperation
Dozens of Indian companies are actively operating in Russia, and so are scores of Russian companies in the Indian market, Putin told journalists.
As examples, he cited Sibur, Russia’s largest petrochemical holding that is realizing a synthetic rubbers project in India, the automobile corporation KAMAZ that has started manufacturing heavy-duty dump-trucks and long-haul trucks, and the JSFC Sistema’s telecom services project.
Putin said economic co-operation was given due consideration in today’s negotiations. “Despite the quite strained global economic environment last year our mutual trade turnover increased 24%,” he said. He stressed the prevailing share of high-value-added products in the Russian-Indian export-import breakdown.
India as a UN member
A joint statement following negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that Russia and India have once more confirmed the need to reform the UN Security Council in order to make it more representative and efficient in tackling new challenges.
Russia affirmed its support for India’s candidacy as a permanent member of a future reformed UN Security Council. Russia and India have also agreed to continue co-operating with a view to strengthening the UN central role in maintaining global peace and stability and ensuring sustainable social and economic development.
The two sides assessed their co-operation within the UN and agreed to keep coordinating their views on a wide range of international and regional issues.
Syrian issue
Moscow and New Dehli take similar approaches to the situation in Syria, the Middle East and North Africa, Putin said.
“Close attention was devoted to the events in the Middle East and North Africa, primarily Syria, and the situation in Afghanistan. Here our views are identical or are similar,” Putin told journalists following negotiations with India’s visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Putin said Russia and India were actively co-operating in the G20, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the UN.
“The Russian side is satisfied with the negotiations,” said Putin. Among the issues discussed he noted Russian-Indian cultural ties and added that Russia and India would alternately host annual cultural festivals.
Joint undertakings
Russia and India will discuss joint projects in aircraft- and shipbuilding within a visit to Moscow by Indian Defence Minister Arackaparambil Anthony scheduled for November 16, Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin said.
“We agreed that within the visit by the Indian defence minister we’d hold two sessions of new working groups. One of them will be specialised with aviation: we’ll discuss a proposal on helicopters. And the second one: we intend to hold consultations on shipbuilding - underground and surface,” the vice-premier said.
Rogozin said Russia and India also agreed to create a new working group on GLONASS.
Both countries have a project related to monitoring of space: this is a large civil project to fight space debris and these are joint actions to explore space. “We consented that the Roscosmos head would visit India till the yearend or to accept an Indian delegation,” Rogozin said.