President Kovind meets China, Russia foreign ministers

Chinese and Russian foreign ministers, who are here to attend a summit, today called on President Ram Nath Kovind and held discussions pertaining to bilateral relations.

President

Kovind congratulated Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on the successful conclusion of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China.

He added that India looked forward to working with President Xi Jinping and the Chinese leadership to take the developmental partnership to greater heights.

"We view India-China ties as important in our foreign policy. Our high-level exchanges and interactions have maintained momentum. Our economic engagement is growing. We are also seeing cooperation on many international issues," Kovind said according to an official statement.
 

The president said that expansion of cooperation bilaterally as well as regionally was in the mutual interest of both the nations.

He expressed confidence that "multifaceted" relations between India and China will continue to make progress and acquire even greater salience.

During his meeting with foreign minister of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, and his delegation, the president said that India-Russia bilateral ties were strong and had further intensified this year.

He expressed happiness that bilateral trade between India and Russia registered a growth of 22 per cent in the first six months of 2017.

Early operationalisation of the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) can play a significant role in achieving our bilateral trade targets, he said.

The corridor, expected to be completed by January next year, will facilitate movement of freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.

The President said that institutionalisation of the India-Russia Heads of Think Tanks Forum, which held its 2nd session in Delhi on December 4-5, would be most helpful to both countries.

"We should continue with our efforts to bring our think tanks and academic communities closer," he said.

The two foreign ministers are in India to participate in the 15th RIC (Russia-India-China) trilateral meeting which is being hosted by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.