On the final day of his 2-day visit to India, Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House, New Delhi, on Friday. This is the 23rd Annual India-Russia Summit.
Putin is on his first visit to India in four years, at a time when New Delhi is engaged in talks with the US for a trade deal to cut punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on its goods over India's Russian oil purchases.
11 AM: Ceremonial Reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan
1130 AM: Wreath Laying at Rajghat
1150 AM: Meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House
1:50 PM: Press Statements at Hyderabad House
7 PM: Meeting with President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan
9 PM: Departure
Putin arrived in India a day after holding talks with Trump's top envoys on a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, but they did not reach a compromise.
India has resisted condemning Russia over the war and called for peace through dialogue and diplomacy, while saying that its ties with Moscow were being unfairly targeted by Western nations that continue to do business with Moscow when it is in their interest.
The Summit, according to news agency Reuters, aims to boost trade with the top buyer of Russia's arms and seaborne oil as Western sanctions squeeze their decades-old ties.
Moscow has been India's top arms supplier for decades and has said that it wants to import more Indian goods in an effort to grow trade to $100 billion by 2030 that so far has been skewed in its favour due to New Delhi's energy imports.
Modi and Putin are also expected to discuss other topics, including labour and civil nuclear energy, with the sides expected to announce new agreements to showcase the resilience of their relations.
(With Reuters inputs)
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