India, Russia firm up agenda for Medvedev visit

India and Russia on Thursday held wide-ranging talks aimed at expanding bilateral trade and firming up agreements in key areas which will be inked during the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev next month.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov held delegation-level talks at the 16th Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Joint Economic Commission meeting in New Delhi.

During the meeting, the entire spectrum of India-Russia trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation was reviewed, including ways to enhance bilateral trade by addressing barriers like visa restrictions.

Both sides realised that economic engagement remained "below its potential" given the size of the two economies, a statement issued after the IRIGC said.

The meeting also set the tone for the Russian President's meeting with Indian leadership by firming up the agenda for the annual Indo-Russia Summit between Medvedev and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Russian President is expected to come around December 21. While focusing on expanding bilateral cooperation in diverse areas, including pharmaceuticals, energy, both conventional and civil nuclear, IT and telecommunications, advanced and applied sciences, hydrocarbons and hi-technology, IRIGC identified concrete steps to further develop economic relations in priority areas of cooperation.

"Both sides resolved to work in tandem to proactively follow up on these discussions with a view to finalising some key Agreements/MOUs in the economic sphere to be signed during the forthcoming visit of Medvedev to India in December 2010 for the Indo-Russian Annual Summit," the statement said.