By IRNA,
New Delhi : India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Monday afternoon embarked for Russia on a three-day visit.
Druing the visit, Dr. Singh will attend two multilateral, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC), summits.
The agenda of the two multilateral summits is expected to include the global financial crisis, terrorism and food security.
The BRIC summit, will be an attempt to frame a comprehensive response to key global problems, including terrorism and the economic crisis.
Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are to issue a joint statement on the global development after their first full-format summit in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on Tuesday.
BRIC nations, with the worlds 45 percent currency reserves and over half of the global population, can influence the process of evolution of the new economic models in the post-crisis world.
Earlier, in his departure statement, Dr. Singh said: “India is among the fastest growing BRIC economies, and is ready to play its part in coordinating international efforts to overcome the ongoing financial and economic slowdown”.
“The BRIC grouping has the potential to lead global economic growth. In fact, global economic recovery is closely linked to the success of the BRIC”, said Indian Prime Minister. Adding that the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) together account for 40 per cent of the world’s population and 40 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product.
India has been an observer of the SCO since 2005.
India’s representation in the Summit is a reflection of the high regard country has for Russia’s Presidency of the SCO, and desires to intensify engagement with countries of its extended neighbourhood in Central Asia, said Dr. Singh in his statement.
Meanwhile, a significant aspect of the visit in Indo-Pak context would be a meeting between Dr Singh and Pakistan President, Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of the two summits in Russia.
Asked about the prospects of resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on Friday made it clear that India is not averse to it but a proper atmosphere needs to be created by Islamabad by taking certain actions against terrorism.