Foreign Ministers of India, Russia discuss cooperation in nuclear, space sectors, agree to work closely in UNSC

The Foreign Ministers of Russia and India held discussions on cooperation in nuclear and space sectors and agreed to work closely in UNSC during India's forthcoming tenure as non-permanent member, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the SCO summit and said the talks reflected the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

"On the sidelines of Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting, EAM has had bilateral meetings with Foreign Ministers of member countries. He met the Russian FM on September 9 and as you know we have a special and privileged strategic partnership with Russia," MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said during weekly virtual media briefing on Thursday.

"This year marks the 20 years of our strategic partnership. This was the first physical meeting after the covid situation and there was excellent discussion on bilateral matters, regional developments and international issues of concern," he added.

According to MEA spokesperson, the two Ministers also followed up on outcomes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Vladivostok for the fifth Eastern Economic Forum in September 2019.

"In this meeting, bilateral, economic issues and cooperation in the development of far eastern region of Russia was also discussed. We also discussed cooperation in nuclear and space sectors. The two ministers agreed to work closely in UNSC during India's forthcoming tenure as non-permanent member," he said.

The MEA spokesperson also informed that EAM Jaishankar also had bilateral meetings earlier with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

During these meetings, ways to further enhance our strategic partnership were discussed, he said.

"Today morning, EAM had bilateral meeting with Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan before he joined the CFM meetings. CFM meeting reviewed preparation for the forthcoming summit which is scheduled in the near future and exhanged views on regional and international issues. This meeting was followed by lunch of RIC Foreign Ministers," said the MEA spokesperson.

( With inputs from ANI )