MOSCOW. Dec 24 (Interfax) - Deepening of friendship and cooperation with India is a priority of Russia's foreign policy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with an Indian newspaper, the Hindu, before visiting India.
"Over the past decades we have accumulated huge experience of joint work and achieved success in a variety of spheres. Political epochs changed but principles of bilateral relations - mutual confidence and equality - remained unaltered," he said.
"Deepening of friendship and cooperation with India is a priority of our foreign policy and we can say with good reason that these relations are truly unique and privileged," the Russian president stressed.
Russia and India show an example of responsible leadership and collective actions on the global scene against the backdrop of uneven global development, economic and social inability and deficit of trust and security, he said.
"We share the goal of making our world fairer, safer and more democratic and promoting settlement of global and regional problems, including the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, in Afghanistan," Putin underlined.
"Allow me to formulate the general prospect of Russia-India strategic partnership in the 21st century as the deepening of cooperation in high-tech sectors, promotion of joint products on international markets, further increase in the share of commodities with a high added value in trade, a higher role and efficiency of Russian-Indian interaction in international affairs and the maximal use of the potential of cultural and humanitarian contacts based on the solid historical traditions of friendship and mutual confidence," the Russian chief of state concluded.