Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in New Delhi on an official visit

Friday, February 3, 2023

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in New Delhi on an official visit on Thursday for talks with Indian leaders on the development of relations and global and regional security. Lavrov said Russia “is ready to strengthen strategic partnership with India. The talks with Indian colleagues will focus on international issues and the development of economic relations. The diversification of trade and encouragement of mutual investments will prioritise the negotiations.” In his view, “both countries have unused reserves in trade and economic relations.” Among priority tasks, trade turnover between Russia and India should reach 10 billion U.S. dollars by the year 2010. Nuclear cooperation meets the interests of both Russia and India. “We are ready to expand it if this does not violate Russian international obligations. We hope that India will step up the signing of an agreement with the IAEA to ensure control over its nuclear activities,” the Russian minister added. Russia is conducting negotiations on the accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he said. Lavrov said he is convinced, “After we join this organisation, new opportunities will be opened for Indian business circles and Russian companies to deepen bilateral relations.” In his view, “much should be changed in trade and economic cooperation. We should overcome inertia and caution, and sometimes mistrust between our business communities. The Russian-Indian Business Council, which was created in February, can play a considerable role in this aspect.” In the afternoon Lavrov held talks in Islamabad. “We agreed to intensify trusty relations with Pakistan within the working group on the fight against terrorism,” he stressed. Special attention was riveted to the situation in Afghanistan. The minister said Russia “is concerned about active actions taken by the Taliban movement. We hope that Pakistan’s measures will help improve the situation. We also voice concern about militants’ actions in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda subversive actions. In order to solve this problem it is necessary to comply with the U.N. Security Council corresponding resolution and the agreements of the International Conference on Afghanistan in Berlin.”

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