Thank you
Excellency, it is a pleasure to see you again in Moscow to be here. I thank you for your warm welcome and for your hospitality.
We have, of course, been meeting regularly on the sidelines of multilateral events as well, most recently at the BRICS Summit and the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Summit, and I think these regular meetings have helped us to be in continuous touch which is important at a time when international relations is changing so much.
Today’s meeting gives us an occasion to discuss our political relationship as well, but also to review our bilateral ties. So I look forward to an exchange of views on politics, on trade, on economics, investment, defence, science and technology, and of course people-to-people exchanges.
Our Leaders met in July for the 22nd Annual Summit last year and thereafter in Kazan. We now prepare for the Annual Summit at the end of the year, and they have always given us guidance to take forward our Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership.
We have had, as you have noted, a very productive meeting yesterday with Dennis Manturov on the Intergovernmental Commission. I think we discussed a lot of issues in our bilateral cooperation, found a lot of solutions as well. I will be very happy to share that. But most important, what I want today is to take those bilateral discussions forward so that we have the maximum outcomes for the Annual Summit when that happens.
From our side, we have had quite a busy calendar. National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval here. Before that, our Minister for Railways, Information& Broadcasting and Information Technology, Ashwani Vaishnaw, and Vice Chairman NITI Aayog Suman Bery were here for SPIEF, and all these showed how deep our relationship is.
The global context for our meeting today is provided by the evolving geopolitical situation, the shifting economic and trade landscape, and our shared goal is to maximize our complementarity.
So today, I am very confident that our exchange of views will be very fruitful, will be very productive, and will certainly contribute to making the Annual Summit as outcome oriented as possible.
Thank you again for your warm welcome.
Moscow
August 21, 2025