NEW DELHI, December 6. /TASS/. Russia treats India as a great power with friendly people, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday at a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"We treat India as a great power with friendly people, and with a remarkable story of our relations," Putin said who paid a visit to India on Monday.

"Relations between our countries have been developing and they are forward-looking. If we observed a decline in [our] turnover by more than 17% last year, then in the first nine months of this year the growth was already more than 38%," the Russian president continued. He also put an emphasis on bilateral cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi in investment activities, saying that "now there is 38 bln [dollars] distributed approximately equally, a little more investment from the Russian side."

Putin pointed out that Russia and India are cooperating in "very important, promising directions." This concerns the energy sector, high technologies, including space. "I’m confident that the programs we spoke about will be implemented, including the training of an Indian cosmonaut," the Russian president said.

"We still have a significant agenda, which is of interest to both India and Russia, meaning anything to do with taking care of the environment," he said. "We are thinking about it, about the green agenda, our economy and its development, but of course, we proceed from the realities and needs of our economies to constantly improve the living standard of our citizens," the Russian president pointed out.

On Monday, Putin arrived at the venue of the negotiations, Hyderabad House, in the Russian Aurus car. It is expected that leaders will exchange opinions on relevant issues, international agenda, including joint work within the G20, the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).