PM Modi meets Putin in Brazil, discusses bilateral ties

Brasilia, Nov 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met Russian President Vladimir Putin here and discussed ways to further cement their special strategic partnership.

Modi, who is in Brazil for the 11th BRICS Summit which will focus on building mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation and strengthen India's ties with the world's five major economies, met Putin on the sidelines of the meeting.

During the meeting, Modi said that "frequent meetings have strengthened our relations". The two leaders are meeting over two months after holding extensive talks in Russia's far east Vladivostok city on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) during which they discussed ways to further cement the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

On September 5, Modi said the friendship between India and Russia was not restricted to governmental interactions in capital cities, but was about people and close business relations. India had announced an "unprecedented" USD 1 billion line of credit for Russia's resource-rich Far East with Prime Minister Modi vowing to support President Putin's "stupendous efforts" to develop the extremely harsh region.

India and Russia signed 15 agreements/MoUs in areas such as defence, air, and maritime connectivity, energy, natural gas, petroleum and trade in September.