NEW DELHI, December 11. /TASS/. Relations between Russia and India develop steadily, embracing all sectors of cooperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
“Relations between our countries are gradually developing in all sectors,” Putin said during his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
The Russian president, who arrived in India on Thursday morning for an official visit, said he expected a significant number of bilateral documents to be signed between the governments of Russia and India as a result of his meeting, which would boost relations between Moscow and New Delhi.
Putin, accompanied by a delegation of senior Russian government officials, also said that “the Russian authorities will stick by the line which was shaped over many decades,” in its relations with India.
Indian Prime Minister Modi said Russia “has been always close friend of India and a privileged global strategic partner.”
Putin’s current visit to India is the sixth one in his capacity of the president of Russia, but he paid another visit to New Delhi in 2010 in the capacity of the Russian prime minister. His first visited India in 2000, when governments of both countries signed a Declaration of Strategic Partnership and agreed to hold annual bilateral summits.
During the Russian president’s visit to India, Putin and his Indian counterpart Modi are expected to meet with Russian and Indian businessmen and open the World Diamond Conference, where Russian and Indian companies are likely to sign a cooperation agreement.