21st India Russia Annual Summit – MEA
Recently the 21st Annual Summit of India and Russia (India-Russia Summit) was organized. The summit was attended by the Prime Minister and the Russian President.
Along with this, for the first time, a 2+2 ministerial meeting was also held between the two countries. In the summit, 28 agreements were signed in the areas of defence, energy, space exploration, science and technology, heavy engineering, trade and investment etc.
Key points:
- The Russian President extended an invitation to the PM to visit Russia for the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit in the year 2022.
- The two leaders expressed satisfaction at the continued progress in the ‘Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership’ between the two countries, despite the challenges posed by COVID.
- The summit discussed the role of connectivity through the ‘International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC)’ and the proposed ‘Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor’.
- The two leaders looked forward to greater inter-regional cooperation between different regions of Russia, particularly the Russian Far East and the Indian states.
- The two leaders agreed that the two countries share similar perspectives and concerns regarding Afghanistan, and appreciated the bilateral roadmap drawn up at the NSA level for consultation and cooperation on Afghanistan.
2+2 Dialogue:
The ‘2+2 Dialogue’ is conducted between the Foreign Ministers and Defense Ministers of two countries. It aims to create a mechanism to strategically deepen bilateral ties, including greater integration of defence, security and intelligence in general.
Importance of Russia to India:
- Although India is diversifying its defense trading partners, Russia remains important, accounting for about 70% of the Indian defense inventory.
- Russia is the only defense partner of India, which is still ready to provide important technology like nuclear submarine to India.
- The emerging strategic relationship between Russia and China could have important security implications for India.
- Russia has reiterated its “firm support” for India for a permanent seat on the expanded UN Security Council.
- Russia has also expressed its support for India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Source – The Hindu
