The Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay an official visit to Moscow on 8th-9th July at the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation for the 22nd Annual Summit, MEA said.
As of now, Prime Minister is scheduled to arrive in Moscow in the afternoon, late afternoon of 8th July. President Putin will host a private dinner for Honourable Prime Minister on the day of arrival. The next day, Honourable Prime Minister’s interactions would include an interface with the Indian community in Russia. As part of programming elements, Prime Minister will also lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Kremlin. And thereafter, Honourable Prime Minister will visit the Rosatom Pavilion at the exhibition venue in Moscow.
These engagements will be followed by a restricted level talk between the two leaders, which will then be followed by delegation level talks led by Honourable Prime Minister and the Russian President. Honourable Prime Minister will depart Moscow for Vienna in the afternoon of 9th July.
The 22nd annual summit between India and Russia would provide an opportunity to the two leaders to review the whole range of bilateral issues, including defence, trade linkages, investment ties, energy cooperation, S&T, education, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. They would also share perspectives on regional and global developments of mutual interest. They would also assess the status of bilateral engagements in groupings such as BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, G20, East Asia Summit, and the UN.
India-Russia have a Special and Privileged Partnership since 2020, which has remained resilient in the wake of multiple geopolitical challenges that the world has been facing. Annual summit between the two leaders is the highest mechanism to steer and drive the cooperation between our two countries.
India-Russia bilateral trade has seen a sharp increase in 2023-24. It has since touched close to $65 billion, primarily due to strong energy cooperation between India and Russia. With Indian exports of $4 billion and Indian imports being close to $60 billion, trade remains imbalanced, which is a matter of priority in our discussions with the Russian side.
Other sidem In the second leg of the trip, Prime Minister will be visiting Austria on 9-10 July at the invitation of the Chancellor of Austria. This will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Austria. Prime Minister had met then Austrian Chancellor, who’s now the Foreign Minister, His Excellency Schallenberg, in October’21 on the sidelines of COP26 in Glasgow. The last Prime Ministerial visit I must mentioned, from India to Austria, took place more than 40 years ago.
In terms of programming elements, the Prime Minister, besides the ceremonial welcome being accorded to him, would also call on the President of Austria and hold restricted delegation-level talks as also a high-level business engagement in Austria.
Austria is an important central European country. The headquarters of, as you would all know, International Atomic Energy Agency, UNIDO, UNODC, and OSCE. Austria offers excellent opportunities for bilateral cooperation in infrastructure, renewable energy, high technology areas, start-up sectors, media and entertainment.
