Medvedev Due in India To ink Nuclear Pact

This news updete by www.thearynews.com



NEW DELHI: Russian President Dmitri Medvedev comes to India on his maiden visit today (Thursday) - a trip that will see the two countries renew their old ties by inking a civil nuclear cooperation accord and stepping up anti-terrorism cooperation.

With the Nov 26 Mumbai terror strikes overshadowing this scheduled trip, intensifying counter-terrorism cooperation is set to dominate the agenda for talks between the two countries.

Medvedev, who begins his three-day visit Thursday, is the first foreign head of state to visit the country after the brazen terror strikes in Mumbai killed 183 people, including 22 foreigners.

Medvedev will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday on a wide spectrum of bilateral, regional and global issues, including civil nuclear cooperation, counter-terrorism and the intensification of economic, energy and defence ties between the two countries.

"Several documents are expected to be signed/ adopted by the two countries during the visit," Indian external affairs ministry said, announcing the visit Wednesday night.

The two countries are expected to sign a pact on civil nuclear cooperation that was initialed early this year but had to wait for the formal signing for the green signal from the IAEA and NSG.

Another issue likely to dominate the talks will be the sale by Russia to India of a Soviet-era aircraft carrier, the 44,570-tonne Admiral Gorshkov, which is being refurbished by a Russian firm.

The two sides are likely to resolve issues relating to pricing as Russia has more than doubled the original price of the carrier to over $2 billion.

Boosting trade ties will be another focus area.

Russia and India plan to increase trade to $10 billion by 2010 from this year's expected level of $7 billion, and diversify economic cooperation, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said here Wednesday.



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