Modi leaves for Russia, Austria; to hold ‘extensive’ talks with Putin

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (July 8) embarked on his first visit in five years to Moscow where he and Russian President Vladimir Putin will focus on bilateral trade and economic ties as well as some new areas of scientific and technological research.

"The special and privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia has advanced over the past 10 years including in areas of energy, security, trade, investment, health, education, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchanges," Modi said in a departure statement.

"I look forward to reviewing all aspects of bilateral cooperation with my friend … Putin and sharing perspectives on various regional and global issues," he said, ahead of the two-day trip.

"We seek to play a supportive role for a peaceful and stable region," he added.

This is also Modi's first visit to Russia since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022.

Austria visit

Modi and Putin are set explore ways to further expand bilateral relations in diverse areas, including trade, energy and defence, at the 22nd India-Russia annual summit on Tuesday.

From Russia, Modi will leave for Austria in the first visit by an Indian prime minister to that country in more than 40 years. He will be in Vienna on July 9 and 10.

The prime minister said the visit will also provide him an opportunity to meet the vibrant Indian community in Russia.

Modi will hold discussions with President Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

"Austria is our steadfast and reliable partner and we share the ideals of democracy and pluralism,” Modi said in his statement on X.

"I look forward to my discussions to take our partnership to even greater heights in new and emerging areas of innovation, technology and sustainable development among others,” he said. 

Trade, investment talks 

Modi said he would exchange views with business leaders from both sides to explore mutually beneficial trade and investment opportunities.

In both Moscow and Vienna, Modi will interact with the Indian community.

Ahead of Modi's visit to Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the agenda will be "extensive".

The annual summit between the prime minister of India and the president of Russia is the highest institutional dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The annual summits are held alternatively in India and Russia.

The last summit was held on December 6 in New Delhi. Putin had visited India to attend the summit.

Modi and Putin last held bilateral talks on the margins of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Uzbekistan in September 2022.

What's on agenda?

Meanwhile, the Indian ambassador to Moscow said that Modi's talks with Putin were expected to yield "tangible outcomes" in many areas.

Speaking to PTI Videos, ambassador Vinay Kumar said that extensive dialogue on trade, economic and investment cooperation and connectivity would be a key focus of discussions in Moscow.

"This is a part of annual summits that the two countries have and hence the agenda would be an entire range of issues in our bilateral relationship," he said.

Kumar added: "We have a set of documents that we are working on. Some of those agreements relate to trade and economic ties and also in some new areas of connectivity, and scientific and technological research. So, I expect that we would have tangible outcomes in many of these areas."

Kumar agreed that trade imbalance against India remained a major area that needed to be addressed.

"So, we will be discussing these issues and also work on expanding the trade basket, commodity-wise as well as volume-wise. Some new areas of exports include agricultural and processed food products, automobile components, engineering goods, and pharmaceuticals," he said.