India, Russia to cooperate closely over Taliban terror

New Delhi, Nov 9 : Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow next month, India and Russia Monday decided to firm up their cooperation in tackling the common threat of Taliban terrorism in Afghanistan and expand ties in areas ranging from civil nuclear energy and defence to trade and investment.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Sobyanin Monday called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here. The volatile situation in violence-torn Afghanistan and the common threat of the Taliban-led extremism topped their discussions, official sources said.

Manmohan Singh said the international community should not waver in its commitment towards restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan and should deal unitedly with extremists in the region, sources said.

The prime minister told Sobyanin, who is on his first visit to India, that he looked forward to his trip to Moscow early December for the annual summit meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Two military pacts, including a 10-year deal on weapons, aircraft and maintenance contracts estimated to be worth around $5 billion, are expected to be signed during the prime minister's visit.

Terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan also figured prominently in delegation-level discussions between Sobyanin and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.

Krishna conveyed concerns about the rising terrorism and referred to the two attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said.

The minister pointed out that those opposed to India-Afghanistan friendship and operating outside Afghanistan were responsible for these attacks.

Krishna stressed on the need to accelerate efforts to ratify the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, that is currently mired in differences over the definition of terrorism.

Sobyanin agreed on the need to strengthen cooperation with India and the international community to combat terrorism and pointed out "inter-linkages" between various extremist outfits in the region.

Earlier in the day, Sobyanin, who arrived here on a four-day visit Sunday, co-chaired with Krishna the meeting of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC).

The two countries decided to expand their partnership across a range of areas, including civil nuclear energy, trade and investment, telecom, space, IT and energy.

They focused on doubling bilateral trade from $7 billion to $15 billion by 2015 through a slew of measures - expanding the trade basket of commodities, increasing networking between the businessmen from both sides and a streamlined visa regime, specially for Indian businessmen.

Sobyanin would also visit the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu Wednesday where Atomstroyexport, Russia's nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, has been building two power reactors. India has recently allocated a new site for a Russia-assisted atomic power plant in West Bengal.

He will also attend an IT show in Bangalore before returning tom Moscow Thursday.

--IANS