PM to meet Russia's President Medvedev today

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is on a three-day visit to the Russian capital, will on Friday hold bilateral summit with President Dmitry Medvedev, during which the two sides will discuss proposals to ramp up their strategic relations and also sign agreements in the fields of defence, health and science and technology.

Manmohan Singh is also slated to meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is at the centre of the political storm over the Russian parliamentary elections and allegations of rigging.

During the meetings, the two sides are likely to discuss their civil nuclear cooperation, in particular the setting up of units III and IV of the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu with Russian reactors.

Earlier, Manmohan Singh said that India would seek to substantially expand bilateral trade with Russia from the current $8.5 billion, while enhancing ties in a host of areas such as defence, energy, space technology and health.

The Prime Minister said his talks with the Kremlin leadership will also cover multilateral issues, notably on ways out of the global economic slowdown.

He said India's bilateral relations with Russia were based on "mutual trust, friendship and shared interests" and encompass diverse sectors, including nuclear energy, defence, space, science and technology, hydrocarbons, trade and investment and people-to-people exchanges.

Bilateral trade amounted to $8.535 billion in 2010, witnessing a 15 percent growth from $7.46 billion in 2009.

The two countries in 2009 decided to target $20 billion worth of bilateral trade by 2015 with a focus on energy, pharmaceuticals, IT, steel, hydrocarbons, aerospace and agriculture.

Meanwhile, highly placed government sources in New Delhi said that India is likely to push for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement with Russia and possibly an economic arrangement with a regional trade forum that Russia is planning with its neighbours like Belarus.