New Delhi
8 May 2008
India will renew contacts with China when Minister of External Affairs
Pranab Mukherjee travels next week to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg for the India-
Russia-China trilateral foreign ministers meeting.
The trilateral meeting will be held from May 14 to 16. The foreign minister of Brazil, Mr
Celso Amorim, also will join the talks, to make it the first foreign ministerial-level talks
among the four BRIC countries.
China hosted the last trilateral meeting at Harbin in 2007.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang on Thursday told a press conference in
Beijing Mr Yang Jiechi would hold bilateral talks with the other foreign ministers on the
sidelines of the trilateral meeting.
Mr Mukherjee's talks with his Chinese counterpart will come after Foreign Secretary
Shivshankar Menon's visit to China in the month of April for a meeting with officials from
China, Mexico, South Africa and Brazil ahead of the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Japan
in the month of July.
Another opportunity is likely to present itself when Defence Minister AK Antony visits
Singapore for The Shangri-La Dialogue. Defence ministers and senior officials from
India, China and 21 other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States,
are expected to participate in the seventh IISS (International Institute for Strategic
Studies) Asia Security Summit, or The Shangri-La Dialogue, which will be held on May 30
and June 1.
The trilateral meeting will also be the first time Mr Mukherjee will meet with his Russian
counterpart Sergei Lavrov after Mr Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as Russia's new
President. President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have
congratulated Mr Medvedev on his inauguration. In his letter of felicitations, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh wished Mr Medvedev every success in his high
responsibilities.
The Prime Minister said India draws immense satisfaction from its strategic partnership
with Russia. "This partnership is based on deep mutual trust, warm people-to-people
bonds and longstanding multi-faceted cooperation. Relations with Russia occupy a
special priority in India's foreign policy," he said. The Prime Minister also extended an
invitation to President Medvedev to visit India. Mr Medvedev will visit China on May 23
and 24, after he makes his first official trip abroad as Head of State to Kazakhstan on
May 22 and 23.
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