(RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin will meet with leaders of China and India who arrived in St. Petersburg to attend the summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations that concludes its work on Monday.
The Russian leader will hold bilateral and trilateral talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the focus on the development of economic ties, reports Trend.
"So far, despite the high level of political interaction, our economic cooperation has not been sufficiently effective," Putin told a news conference on the first day of the G8 summit.
"Therefore, our meeting in this format will focus on the development of economic ties between the three countries," he said, adding that the discussion would certainly promote mutual trust not only between the participants of the talks but also on the regional and global levels.
Putin said on July 15 that it would be difficult to imagine how international financial and energy problems could be solved without involving China, India and Brazil.