MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. Moscow and New Delhi have a favorable vision of prospects for their wider military-technical cooperation and joint production of advanced weapon systems, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday. "We share a positive view of the condition of and prospects for military-technical cooperation, including the possibility of expanding joint production of modern weapon systems," Lavrov said.

The two sides "stated positive trends in trading and economic ties in general."

"Last year bilateral trade was up 17% to nearly $11 billion," Lavrov said. "Good pace has been preserved this year."

Jaishankar will discuss bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, the co-chairman of the inter-governmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, later on Wednesday.

Meanwhile Moscow expects to expand military-technical cooperation with New Delhi following the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted earlier on Wednesday at a meeting with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

"I hope that today we will talk about making the best use of the upcoming summit [EEF — TASS], including efforts to promote a political dialogue in the spirit of our particularly privileged strategic partnership, expand trade and economic cooperation, the high-tech sphere included, and, of course, about coordination of our actions on the global stage, in the UN and other associations," he said.

As for the preparations for a bilateral summit, Moscow and New Delhi are on the right track, the Russian foreign minister told a press conference following Wednesday’s talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

"Today, we focused on preparations for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin and participation in the Fifth Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok as chief guest," Lavrov said. "We thoroughly discussed the visit’s agenda and came to the conclusion that we are on the right track," he added.

EAEU-India free trade zone talks

Preparations for the talks between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and India on creation of a free trade zone have been finished, with all required procedures fulfilled, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following the talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday.

"EAEU focuses on the deepening of trade and economic cooperation with New Delhi. As of today, all procedures required for the launch of official talks on concluding a free trade zone agreement between EAEU and India have been completed. The speedy launch of a respective negotiations process will be a milestone of cooperation between India and EAEU," he pointed out.

Lavrov added that the talks also focused on "a number of specific issues, including the necessity to intensify work on creation of an international transport corridor North-South in the Russia-India-Iran format." ""Respective departments continue meaningful consultations on that subject," he noted.

5th Eastern Economic Forum

The 5th Eastern Economic Forum organized by the Roscongress Foundation will be held in Vladivostok on September 4-6. Russia’s TASS news agency is the event’s general information partner and an official photo host agency.