Jaishankar to Visit Moscow for Trade Talks Ahead of Putin's India Trip
EAM Jaishankar will visit Moscow on August 23-24 to co-chair the India-Russia trade commission and meet Foreign Minister Lavrov.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will travel to Moscow on a two-day official visit starting Sunday, August 23. The trip comes ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's scheduled visit to India in September for the BRICS leaders' summit.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that Jaishankar will co-chair the 27th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov.
During the visit, Jaishankar will also hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This will be their second meeting in a month, following their recent interaction on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila. In that previous meeting, the two leaders reviewed bilateral relations, covering trade, investment, energy, connectivity, science and technology, and mobility, while also exchanging views on the Ukraine conflict and the Gulf situation.
The upcoming talks come against the backdrop of India's recent strong diplomatic protest over the deaths of four Indian seafarers in a missile strike on a merchant vessel off the Ukrainian coast in July. India had summoned Russia's Charge d'Affaires to convey its unequivocal condemnation and grave concern, stating that attacks on commercial shipping are unacceptable and undermine the safety of international maritime commerce.