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Indian prime minister to pay first state visit to Russia on December 23-24 — ambassador

The Russian ambassador to India expresses hope that during Narendra Modi’s visit vital decisions would be made in the spheres of military-technological cooperation and nuclear power sector
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi  AP Photo/Wong Maye-E
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
© AP Photo/Wong Maye-E

NEW DELHI, December 15 /TASS/. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay his first state visit to Russia on December 23-24," Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin said on Monday.

"The visit is scheduled for December 23-24," Kadakin said in his speech at a ceremony held on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in New Delhi.

"The trip will give additional impetus to bilateral mutually beneficial relations between Russia and India," the Russian ambassador said.

The diplomat expressed the hope that during Modi’s visit vital decisions would be made in the spheres of military-technological cooperation and nuclear power sector as well as humanitarian ties.

"All this will contribute to further development of Russian-Indian ties," Kadakin added.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who met Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin earlier in December said that his first state visit to Russia would make it possible to upgrade relations between the two countries to a qualitatively new level.

India attaches great importance to special and privileged strategic partnership with Russia, the Indian prime minister said adding that he expected his meetings with the Russian leadership to be fruitful and productive.

Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin who paid a one-day visit to New Delhi on December 8 said that Russia and India were determined to continue cooperation in the peaceful use of atom.

Russian-Indian cooperation in the peaceful use of atom is moving in the right direction, Rogozin said in a TASS interview.

Russia is building the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in India under the 1988 inter-governmental agreement and the 1998 addition to it. The station’s first nuclear power unit is the most powerful and safest in India. It meets all modern safety standards. The unit was included in India’s national energy grid in 2013 and handed over to the annual period of guarantee maintenance ending in late 2015. Pre-starting works are under way at the second nuclear power unit.

Russia and India signed the master framework agreement for the construction of the second stage (the third and fourth power units) of the Kudankulam NPP in spring 2014. In December the same year, the sides signed documents allowing the construction to begin.

In December 2014, Moscow and New Delhi signed a document on strategic vision of serial construction of nuclear power units in India by using Russian technologies. The document outlines plans for the construction of more than 20 nuclear power units in India; cooperation in the construction of Russia-designed NPPs in third countries as well as joint uranium extraction; the production of nuclear fuel and nuclear waste disposal.