India, Russia to strengthen cooperation

New Delhi, Dec 3: Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today ahead of India Russia Summit.

Zhukov and Mukherjee chaired the 14th session of the India-RussiaInter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC) on Thursday. Both the countries are seeking to increase economic and energy cooperation amidst the growing fears of a recession. India and Russia during the last session decided to boost bilateral trade to 10 billion dollars by 2010.

The two countries have seen a growth in bilateral trade this year, which increased in the first nine months of 2008 by 41.6 per cent to 3.8 billion dollars year-on-year.

In the wake of the recent terror attacks in Mumbai, the two countries have stressed their intention to step up cooperation to fight terrorism.

The commission's annual meeting comes on the eve of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's three-day official visit to India beginning on December 4.

Medvedev and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh are scheduled to meet here to discuss anti-terrorism cooperation.

Medvedev's visit is also expected to see the signing of a series of agreements, including on nuclear cooperation. Russia could help build another four reactors at India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant to add to the two that already exist.

The last Russian-Indian summit was held in November 2007, when Dr. Singh visited Russia.

ANI