Modi-Putin meeting: Jaishankar hails ‘great opportunity’ to hold direct trade talks, says ‘there are issues like…’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to meet with his Russian counterpart on Monday to discuss a slew of regional and global issues. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar dubbed it a ‘great opportunity’ for Modi and Vladimir Putin to have a direct conversation about issues such as trade imbalance. The India-Russia summit is taking place after nearly three years and follows a visit from the Russian leader in December 2021.

“There are issues...like the trade imbalance...So, at a leadership level, it will be a great opportunity for Prime Minister Modi and President Putin to sit down and directly talk to each other. And then obviously, as per their directions, we will see how to take the relationship forward,” Jaishankar said on Sunday.

PM Modi will be heading to Moscow on July 8 at the invitation of the Russian President to hold the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit. He is expected to discuss issues of regional and global importance with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had earlier indicated that the PM would engage with the Indian community in Russia and visit the Kremlin after his arrival.

Meanwhile Jaishankar dubbed the Annual Bilateral Summit a “good tradition” and noted that there had been a slippage in the meetings.

"Now, this was a tradition. It's a good tradition. We are two countries that have such a strong and very steady history of working together. So both of us value very much the need for an annual summit," he told ANI.

Jaishankar further recalled his last visit to Russia during the end of the year.

"Even last year, I went to Moscow at the end of the year, and at that time, I carried a message from the prime minister that we are committed to the annual summit, and we will do it sooner rather than later," he said.

He continued, that the annual summit is a regular occurrence and a way of taking stock of the India-Russia relationship.

"It's something that was waiting to happen. It's a regular occurrence. It is a way of taking stock of any relationship," the minister said.

"What you do is you look at the state of the world, there are things you want to do more. There are things you want to do differently. One of the big changes has actually been that our economic relationship with Russia has grown tremendously," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)