Ambitious plan for collaboration in key domains”: Putin on his India visit
New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Delhi on Thursday evening for a two-day state visit to India for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. He landed at Delhi’s Palam airport where Prime Minister Narendra Modi received him with a hug and a handshake.
Prime Minister Modi and President Putin sat in the same car and left the airport. PM Modi and President Putin then headed to the Prime Minister’s official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg for dinner. During the visit, Putin will hold talks with PM Modi, focusing primarily on trade, investment, economy and defence. President Droupadi Murmu will also receive him and host a state banquet. Putin is likely to be accompanied by senior officials from the Russian government as well as leading figures from the country’s business community on the trip. Post dinner at his official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, PM Modi presented a copy of Bhagavad Gita to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Presented a copy of the Gita in Russian to President Putin. The teachings of the Gita give inspiration to millions across the world,” PM Modi wrote on X, alongside a picture from the occasion.
Meanwhile president Vladimir Putin in an interview to a national new channel on Thursday said that his country’s partnership with India spans various fields, including technology and energy, and that the two nations will cooperate in many other “interesting areas”. He said that India-Russia’s partnership in nuclear power is exemplified by the prominent Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) project set up in Tamil Nadu.
In and interview with Aaj Tak and India Today, Putin said that India and Russia will work together on issues deemed important by both him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with likely discussions on future cooperation in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“We have laid out an ambitious plan for our collaboration in key domains. The most critical areas are indeed forward-looking. I’m referring specifically to high technology. Our partnership with India encompasses such fields as space exploration, energy (notably nuclear power, exemplified by the prominent Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant project), shipbuilding, and aviation,” the Russian president said.
“There are many interesting areas for cooperation that look to the future. Take, for example, artificial intelligence. We’ll likely discuss it further down the line. AI represents a crucial technology shaping the future, rapidly transforming the world, amplifying possibilities exponentially while simultaneously presenting certain challenges,” he added.
Putin revealed that announcements on nuclear cooperation between India and Russia were imminent. He said that Russia remains a producer of advanced, reliable nuclear power plant equipment and is capable of building small nuclear power plants.
“We have some announcements to make. We are producers of the world’s most advanced and reliable equipment for nuclear power plants. The Russian company Rosatom builds and operates more nuclear reactors for nuclear power plants abroad than any other company in the world — 22 nuclear units. The well-known facility and our joint project, the Kudankulam plant, is one of the leaders in this regard. These are large units; they operate efficiently and, I reiterate, have proven to be very useful,” the Russian president said.
Putin said that small nuclear power plants are already operational in Russia and are an option for regions that don’t require large power stations.
“Russia is probably the only country in the world today capable of building — and actually does build — small nuclear power plants. Such plants are already operational in Russia, and we can make them either floating or ground-based. It’s an excellent option for specific regions where big power stations are not needed or where connecting electricity grids between generators and end-users isn’t feasible. These compact nuclear power modules can thus be deployed in isolated and hard-to-access locations,” he said.
