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A high-level delegation has also come with Putin

New Delhi. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in India on a three-day visit to attend the BRICS summit and hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on expanding bilateral trade, investment and energy cooperation. A high-level delegation has also come with Putin.

“Warm welcome to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 18th BRICS summit,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on social media platform 'X'. Union Minister of State K. V. Singh received him at the airport. India and Russia enjoy multifaceted and strong long-standing relations which are based on a special and privileged strategic partnership.

This will be the first time Putin will personally attend a BRICS summit held outside Russia since the Ukraine war began in February 2022. The two-day BRICS summit, hosted by India, starting on Saturday, is likely to focus on strengthening collective capacity in the areas of food, energy, health, disaster risk reduction and critical supply chains. New Delhi is trying to ensure that BRICS can become an effective platform to deal with the current geopolitical situation.

The summit is being held in New Delhi at a time when the global economy is grappling with the adverse effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, the West Asia crisis, especially the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and the trade and tariff policies of the US President Donald Trump-led administration.

Many top leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung are participating in the summit.

Putin and Modi are scheduled to hold extensive bilateral talks on various issues on Friday afternoon. The meeting is likely to focus on enhancing cooperation in various sectors including defence, energy, technology, medicine and people-to-people contacts between the two countries.

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