India, Russia to strengthen strategic partnership

New Delhi [India], May 11 (ANI) : External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on Thursday to further strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership and agreed to take forward their bilateral cooperation in diverse fields including security, nuclear and space. Stating that relations with Russia are one of the most important pillars of India's foreign policy, Sushma said "I had very fruitful and productive talks with Dmitry Rogozin ." "We have made good progress made in implementation of agreements signed between the two countries in Goa 2016 during the BRICS Summit," she said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold the next summit in St. Petersburg on June 1. Sushma said both countries "agreed to work closely to take forward many of the collaborative ideas that emerged in diverse fields, including security, nuclear, space, disaster management, trade and economy, science and technology and people-to-people linkages." She said, the future roadmap is being implemented enthusiastically and over 100 items have been identified, adding that Ministries, Departments and private sectors are coming together to celebrate 70th year of Indo-Russian diplomatic relations. In his statement, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dimitry Rogozin said, the relationship between India and Russia is very dynamic and strengthening trade and economic cooperation was discussed between him and Swaraj.(ANI)