MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax-AVN) - Opening talks with Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes on Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov highly appraised the level of military cooperation between the two countries.
"I don't doubt that your visit to Russia and the upcoming talks will raise our cooperation in this area to a higher level," Ivanov said.
"We are up to implementing the agreements that were achieved during the Russian president's visit to New Delhi and the Indian prime minister's visit to Moscow," Ivanov noted.
"The positions of Russia and India are identical or very close in most issues of global and regional security. I can mention Afghanistan as an example," the minister said.
"Very fruitful and positive experience has been collected for many decades of cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries. The peoples of Russia and India know by their own example what terrorism is like, which obviously makes us closer as well," he concluded.
India and Russia have always been partners in the sphere of security and stability, Fernandes said. Afghanistan is the problem on which the stands of New Delhi and Moscow have been identical for a long time, he remarked.
Speaking about terrorism, Fernandes said that while Russia was facing the Chechen problem India had Jammu and Kashmir where the problem was created by Pakistan. "We are still facing transborder terrorism, and we are grateful to Russia for the support in this struggle," he said.
Economic relations between Russia and India have a very solid basis, Fernandes said. Yet they have not met the potential of the two countries, he remarked. "We are eager to discuss the issues put on the agenda and to visit Russian military-purpose enterprises," the minister added.
Fernandes stressed that New Delhi was looking forward to receiving Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said he was sure that Putin's visit would contribute to strengthening of bilateral relations.
Before members of the Russian and Indian delegations were brought in, Ivanov and Fernandes talked for about an hour in the one-on-one format.