Government
Modi, Putin hold Delhi talks, exchange Thirukkural gift
PM Modi and Russian President Putin held bilateral talks in Delhi on September 11 ahead of the BRICS Summit, with Modi gifting Putin a Russian translation of the Tamil classic Thirukkural.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in New Delhi on Friday, marked by an exchange that included a Russian translation of the Thirukkural.
Modi gifted Putin the translated text ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit, saying he expected it to grow people-to-people ties between the two countries.
The Thirukkural is an ancient Tamil work of 1,330 couplets, attributed to poet-saint Thiruvalluvar and written around two thousand years ago.
The bilateral meeting covered trade, industry, energy, mobility and critical resources, with discussion of rail sector and steel value chain cooperation.
Putin arrived in Delhi ahead of the BRICS Summit, which India is hosting from September 12 to 13.
Talks reportedly touched on plans related to INNOPROM participation in India, as well as collaboration in the rail sector and the steel value chain.
Business-to-business opportunities between Indian and Russian companies were also on the agenda during the wide-ranging talks.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, with several other world leaders also arriving in Delhi over the same period.
Security for the summit period has been tightened significantly across Delhi, with thousands of personnel deployed and airspace restrictions in effect.
India-Russia relations span decades of defence, energy and diplomatic cooperation, with the two countries holding regular bilateral summits.
The two leaders have met on multiple occasions in recent years, both at bilateral summits and on the sidelines of multilateral forums such as BRICS and the SCO.
Officials from both sides were expected to hold follow-up working-level discussions in the weeks after the summit to translate the leaders’ talks into concrete agreements.
India has traditionally balanced its ties with Russia alongside its relationships with Western partners, a dynamic that continues to shape its foreign policy approach.
Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit, which India is hosting on September 12 and 13.
PM Narendra Modi with President Vladimir Putin, PIB/Wikimedia Commons, GODL-India