India and Russia are putting the finishing touches to agreements in defence, trade, space, technology and energy that are expected to be signed during the annual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin on December 6.
Ahead of Putin’s day-long visit, the Indian government cleared a plan for the joint production of more than 500,000 AK-203 assault rifles with Russia to boost self-reliance in defence manufacturing, officials familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
The annual summit – which has been held since 2000 – will be preceded by meetings between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu and external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, and the inaugural 2+2 dialogue of the defence and foreign ministers.
The two sides are looking forward to intense engagement on issues ranging from ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in trade, connectivity and energy to regional security concerns, such as the situation in Afghanistan, people familiar with planning for the summit said on condition of anonymity.