India, Russia look to shore up cooperation with physical meetings

NEW DELHI: Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Russian deputy foreign minister Igor Morgulov Tuesday discussed the possibility of restarting physical meetings to provide a leg-up to bilateral ties. They discussed the likelihood of having physical BRICS and SCO summits that Russia is looking to host in St Petersburg later this year, sources here said.
Physical meetings for Indian diplomats and leaders have remained suspended since March because of the Covid-19 situation.Moscow, however, has been insisting that the summits be held with physical presence of leaders. It has proposed the SCO and BRICS foreign ministers visit Moscow on September 10 for meetings in the run up to the summits.
"Shringla and Morgulov discussed how to take bilateral agenda forward on Russian Far East, trilateral track 2 dialogue with Japan, Russian investments in infrastructure in India and Indian investment in oil and gas and coal sectors in Russia," said an official source.
The 2 sides also discussed collaboration in the UN and multilateral fora, including Russia joining the ISA.
"Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov held a telephonic conversation today that inter alia covered high-level exchanges between both sides; forthcoming calendar of high-level meetings in the framework of BRICS and SCO; and interactions and meetings at various levels preparatory to the India-Russia Summit later in the year," said the government in an official statement.
"The Foreign Secretary and the Deputy Foreign Minister also exchanged views on various regional and international issues of mutual interest reflecting common ground and approaches. Both sides agreed to maintain regular contacts," it added.
The SCO and BRICS ummit meetings have been delayed this year because of the novel coronavirus. An Indian delegation is also expected to participate in Russia's International Military-Technical Forum Army-2020 in the last week of this month.