PM Modi arrives in Moscow to attend 16th Annual Summit

Afghanistan’s new parliament building is on the verge of completion and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to inaugurate it, Tolo News reported on Sunday.

Today’s Russian Federation is nearly unrecognizable in comparison with a year ago – or even the Russian Federation that Modi visited in July to attend the BRICS summit.

Immediately preceding Modi’s visit, India is readying to sign up for almost $9 billion worth of deals that include purchase of the state-of-the-art S-400 “Triumf” air defence systems and jointly manufacturing more than 140 Kamov Ka-226 light helicopters.

On Indo-Russia ties he said, “The relations between India and Russia are linked together through the water, land and sky”.

He recalled the time when as Gujarat chief minister in 2001 he accompanied then prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Russian Federation.

He said, “My visit will deepen the cooperation between India and Russian Federation in the economic, energy and security spheres”.

“Beyond speed, it will also increase the ability of the Indian forces to engage multiple targets and at a long range”, Anurag Garg, a director at PwC’s strategy consulting group, said of the S-400.

Modi’s “Make-in-India” push for a military that has been the world’s biggest importer for the last four years has also made little headway, with negotiations stalled over issues including technology transfer and the local assembly of equipment. On cooperation between the two sides on worldwide and regional forums, Modi said a strong global partnership has been the hallmark of the bilateral ties and the Russian support in global forums, including in the UN Security Council, through the decades is deeply valued in India.

The bilateral trade between India and Russian Federation has been hovering around the $10 billion since 2012.

In an interview to Russian news agency TASS, Modi drew parallels between his and President Vladimir Putin’s political journey.

The talks between the two countries, bound by “special and privileged strategic ties”, have been taking place alternately in Moscow and New Delhi since 2000. Their current bilateral trade is about $10 billion and the countries are aiming to increase it to $30 billion over the next 10 years. “So, expanding trade is a very big priority”, he said.

“Another broadly discussed issue is the preparations for signing of an intergovernmental agreement on joint production in India of 200 multi-purpose helicopters Ka-226T”.

“We requested him to pursue the KGB files personally with Putin when he visits that country this month”.

Indian Oil Corp and Oil India, both state-owned, are in talks with Russia’s Rosneft to buy up to a 29 percent stake in a Siberian oil project, two sources said on Friday.

Promotion of tourism and facilitating travel for people of the two countries will also come up for discussion.