Opening Statement

The President of Russian Federation, His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to India from 3-5 December 2002. The visit is taking place in accordance with the understanding reached in October 2000 - when President Putin visited India - that the top leaders of the two countries will hold annual summit meetings. You would recall that Prime Minister Vajpayee had visited Russian Federation from 4-7 November 2001. 

The Presidential Delegation will include the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Rushailo; Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. I. Ivanov; the Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Sergei Prikhodko; the President of the Republic of Udmurtia Region, Mr. Alex Volkov; Governor of Samara Region, Mr. Titov; Minister of Industry and Science and Technology, Mr. Klebanov; Minister of Atomic Energy, L. Rumyantsev; Minister of Press, TV and Radio, Mr. Lessin; Minister of Information Technology, Mr. Reirman; Members of the State Duma of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation; representatives of important Russian companies and enterprises and representatives of banks and financial institutions, among others. 

This visit is expected to consolidate the strategic partnership between the two countries and provide an opportunity to discuss some important issues that have arisen since the visit of our Prime Minister last year. 

President Putin will arrive in New Delhi on the evening of 3rd December. He will dine with the Prime Minister that evening. On the morning of 4th December, he will be accorded the customary Guard of Honour and will visit Raj Ghat. Calls by EAM, Hon. Vice-President, Deputy Prime Minister, and Raksha Mantri will follow. 

President Putin will then address leaders of industry at a luncheon organized jointly by CII and FICCI. The Leader of the Opposition will also meet him. Thereafter, President Putin will meet the Prime Minister, and the two delegations will meet formally. This will be followed by signature of agreements and a brief interaction with the media at the Hyderabad House. In the evening, there will be a meeting with Hon’ble President of India followed by State Banquet. President Putin will depart on 5th December in the morning. So, you have got the whole programme. 

Once again, there are a number of important documents which will be signed between the two countries. We will sign a Delhi Declaration on further strengthening the strategic partnership between India and the Russian Federation. There will be a declaration on expanding cooperation in trade, economic, scientific and technological fields. In addition, there will be a joint statement issued on the visit. The agreements to be signed will include a protocol on the protection and use of intellectual property rights for scientific and technological cooperation, an MoU on cooperation on combating terrorism, a protocol on cooperation between Karnataka and Samara Region, and an MoU on cooperation in telecommunications. 

As you can well imagine, during the talks with President Putin we expect to discuss the issue of terrorism; Pakistani sponsorship of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Afghanistan and the Middle East; and Iraq and other issues of concern. We have a host of issues in the bilateral field to discuss, primarily in the field of enhancing our trade and economic cooperation.

This will also include ways and means of increasing our trade and investments after the Rupee-Rouble arrangement comes to a trickle in 2005, as well as cooperation in the field of energy security. Recent developments with regard to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Russian accession to the WTO, a review of our bilateral cooperation in defence, atomic energy and space will figure during discussions. The Russian Federation, as you know, continues to reiterate that it considers India as a strong and worthy candidate for a permanent membership of the enlarged United Nations Security Council. This will be reflected on the documents to be issued. 

As you are also aware, we have recently concluded a review meeting of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation on 22nd November 2002. We have agreed to cooperate further in the field of energy and in high value items like diamonds. ONGC Videsh Ltd., is looking for further cooperation with Russia in third countries. Russian interest has also been expressed in new investments in power and metallurgy, IT and Telecom sectors. 

An important area of our cooperation is science and technology. One hundred and fifty-six research projects in different areas of Science and Technology have been completed, and 2500 exchanges have taken place. In the month of November, 87 new projects have been identified for cooperation between the two countries. Last year, during his visit to the Russian Federation, our Prime Minister had announced the setting up of an Indo-Russian Science Centre in order to enter into joint ventures of Russian scientific institutions for commercialization of high technology. We hope to move further in this field in the near future. Details of the agreements to be signed will be available during the signing ceremony on December 4. Well, that is it. If there are any questions I will be glad to answer.