PM Narendra Modi on 36-hour visit to Vladivostok in Russia

September 02, 2019
Central Government India Narendra Modi Speeches Video World

No sofa, ordinary chair only for me like others: PM Narendra Modi in Vladivostok – video goes viral

Vladivostok: During the visit to India pavilion in Eastern Economic Forum 2019 in Vladivostok in Russia, a sofa was placed for Prime Minister Narendra Modi between chairs for a group photo. As soon as InvestIndia’s Deepak Bagla welcomed the PM to India pavilion, the PM spotted a special sofa arrangement for him for group photo while others would sit on chairs. The Prime Minister immediately asked staffers to remove the sofa and arrange simple chair for him at group photo venue. Accordingly, the staff replaced sofa with chairs. Shri Modi took sit only after a chair was arranged for him instead of sofa.

PM Narendra Modi leaves Vladivostok for journey to Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today concluded his 36-hour long short but loaded Vladivostok visit in Russia. He was given grand see off ‘Dasvadaniya’ at the airport before he boarder Air India plane to return to Delhi in India.

On Twitter, Prime Minister Modi tweeted: Thank you Russia! This has been a productive visit.

The outcomes of this visit will bring Russia and India closer. Gratitude to President Putin, the Government and people of Russia for their hospitality.

Comment: The hard work this man puts on for the country is example for even any young man.

He left India for 36-hour visit to Russia and after long overnight flight reached Russia. And received guard of honor in the morning followed by reception by Indian community on his arrival. No rest, he embarked for joint visit to shipbuilding yard with President Putin. Boarding a ship, leaving a ship and a round in big ship building yard.

Soon after this, he participated in India-Russia 20th annual summit with Putin, followed by delegation level talks, exchanges of agreements and press statements.

After this comes, a joint visit with Putin to Street of the Far East exhibition. And then dinner hosted by Putin.

Modi today in his speech said that he and Putin had time together till 1.00 am around.

On the second day, PM Modi had bilateral talks with Prime Minister of Japan, Malaysia and head of the State of Mongolia.

Modi then visited and walked through Indian Pavilion at EEF 2019.

Modi then attended Plenary session of Eastern Economic Forum, gave a speech, answered questions in discussion session.

He visited Judo championship with Putin, Abe and others.

And then to airport, video of which you are viewing here.

PM addresses Eastern Economic Forum 2019

 

 

Plenary Session Speech in Full Text

 

Full session in video; includes Questions and Answers

MEA briefing on PM’s bilateral meetings with Japan, Malaysia and Mongolia

PM visits Far East Street Exhibition jointly with President Putin

 

PM recalls his Russia visit as Gujarat CM in early 2000s

PM Modi’s remarks at Joint Press Meet with President Putin in Russia

List of MoUs/Agreements exchanged during visit of Prime Minister to Vladivostok

September 04, 2019
1. Joint Statement “Reaching New Heights of Cooperation through Trust and Partnership”.

2. Joint Strategy for the Enhancement of India- Russia Trade and Investments.

3. Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and Government of the Russian Federation and on the cooperation in the production of spare parts for Russian/Soviet military equipment.

4. Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation in Audiovisual Co-production.

5. Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation on bilateral cooperation in the road transport and road industry.

6. Memorandum of Intent between the Ministry of Shipping of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation on the Development of Maritime Communications between the Port of Chennai, Republic of India and the Port of Vladivostok, Russian Federation.

7. Plan for cooperation between the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Ministry of Finance, Republic of India and the Federal Customs Service (Russian Federation), for combating customs violations in 2019-2022.

8. Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Republic of India on the use of Natural Gas for Transportation.

9. Program between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation on expansion of cooperation in oil and gas sector.

10. Memorandum of Understanding between Coal India Limited and Far East Investment and Export Agency to cooperate in coking coal mining projects implementation in the Russian Far East.

11. Cooperation Agreement between Invest India and the Russian Direct Investment Fund for Investment Collaboration.

12. Cooperation agreement between the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry the Roscongress Foundation.

13. Memorandum of Understanding between the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Autonomous Non-profit Organization Agency for Strategic Initiatives to promote New Projects.

14. Memorandum of understanding between the Joint Stock Company NOVATEK and PETRONET LNG Limited on cooperation with respect to the joint development of downstream LNG Business and LNG supplies.

15. Agreement on Cooperation between Joint-Stock Company Rosgeologia and Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited;

Vladivostok
September 04, 2019

Media briefing available here

 

India-Russia Joint Statement during PM’s visit to Vladivostok in full text

 

PM and Putin

 

PM’s interview on Russian State TV

 

Indian community members greet Modi on his arrival

PM reaches Vladivostok

 

Earlier

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Vladivostok in Russia to attend Eastern Economic Forum. He will also attend annual summit between India and Russia. PM will visit a ship buidling yard with Russian president Putin. There will be restricted and delegation level talks followed by dinner. Head of state of Mongolia and Prime Ministers of Japan and Malaysia will also be attending the Eastern Economic Forum. Bilateral with some of them is possible. Before departing, Putin and Modi will jointly visit a major judo championship. A 6-member Indian Judo team is also participating in this international championship. PM will deliver an address in Eastern Economic Forum. There shall be India-Russia business dialogue for which a 50-member FICCI delegation shall be in Vladivostok at the same time.

Departure Statement by Prime Minister prior to his visit to Vladivostok

I will be visiting Vladivostok, Russia on 4-5 September, 2019.

My visit to Far East Region of Russia, the first by an Indian Prime Minister, underlines the desire on the both sides to diversify and further strengthen the bonds of our robust bilateral relations.

The objective of my visit is two fold- to participate as the Chief Guest at the 5th Eastern Economic Forum at the invitation of President of the Russian Federation Mr Vladimir Putin andto hold the 20th India-Russia Annual Summit with him. The Forum focuses on development of business and investment opportunities in the Russian Far East Region, and presents enormous potential for developing close and mutually beneficial cooperation between India and Russia in this region.

Our two Countries enjoy excellent relations, based on the strong foundation of our special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. Both countries cooperate extensively in the strategic fields of defence, civil nuclear energy and peaceful uses of space. We have robust and growing trade and investment relations.

Our strong partnership is complemented by a desire to promote a multipolar world and the two countries closely cooperate towards this end in regional and multilateral fora.

I look forward to discussing with my friend President Putin the entire gamut of our bilateral partnership as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest. I also look forward to meeting other global leaders attending the Eastern Economic Forum, and interacting with Indian Industry and business representatives participating in it.

Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale’s statement on PM’s visit:

Thank you Raveesh and good evening ladies and gentlemen. I want to brief you about Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit to Russia. It’s going to be short visit, just 36 hours. He will arrive in Vladivostok on the morning of 4 September and depart from Vladivostok on the evening of September 5.

There are two main purposes for this visit. He has been invited to attend the Eastern Economic Forum by President Putin as one of the Chief Guests. And secondly he will also hold the 20thAnnual Summit between India and Russia.

The previous editions of the Eastern Economic Forum, this is a forum started by Russia in 2015, have been attended by our former Commerce & Industry Minister in 2018 and our former External Affairs Minister in 2017. So we have had regular high level political level attendance at this Eastern Economic Forum.

Before I get into some of the details of the two elements of the visit I wanted to share some of the program elements. In the forenoon after he arrives, the President and the Prime Minister will make a joint visit to one of their major ship building yards. This is a plant that makes vessels including ice breakers and oil tankers. The two leaders will go together to see this plant and then in the afternoon of the 4ththere will be restricted and delegation level talks followed by dinner.

On the morning of 5th September, there will be some bilaterals. The Head of State of Mongolia and the Prime Ministers of Japan and Malaysia will also be attending the Eastern Economic Forum but at this stage I am not in a position to confirm which of these bilaterals take place, some of them.

Subsequently in the afternoon is the Eastern Economic Forum plenary meeting and then just before Prime Minister departs President Putin and Prime Minister will jointly visit a major judo championship which is taking place in Vladivostok before PM returns back to Delhi. There is actually a six member Indian Judo team in Vladivostok participating in the championship. It is an international championship.

The Eastern Economic Forum as I mentioned is an event they have been holding every year since 2015 in Vladivostok. The main event is in St. Petersburg every May and the Prime Minister will deliver an address. There will also be an India-Russia Business Dialogue and for this a 50 member FICCI delegation is also going to be in Vladivostok at the same time.

You’ll will recall that the Deputy Prime Minister, in-charge of the Far East and Arctic Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister Trutnev had come to India on 20th of June to prepare for Prime Ministers visit and subsequent to that a very high powered government and business delegation had visited Vladivostok on 11-12 August. This included Chief Ministers of four states, of Gujarat, Goa, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and our Commerce & Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal.

They were accompanied by a business delegation of almost 150 business persons and this was a clear intent on part of our government to show that we attach importance to the Russian Far East as an area where we can do business as well as an area of geopolitical importance to us in the context of the Indo-Pacific.

There was a round table that our chief ministers had, 11 governors of Russian provinces attended. Several MoUs were signed, a number of Russian companies participated. So we demonstrated a seriousness of intent in engaging with the Russian Far East which we have had relatively limited economic and commercial contact because our focus has either been Europe or Russia or the area just north of the Central Asian Republics.

Some of the potential sectors are coking coal, obviously oil and gas, diamonds, timber, tourism and from our prospective we are also looking at the possibilities of farming and also of manpower export. There is serious shortage of Manpower in that part of the world.

And as I said the Eastern Economic Forum, therefore gains an importance not only because we would like to develop strong economic and commercial relations. Many of the resources are something India needs in the near future but it is also because of the opening of the Northern Sea Route, the Arctic Route to Europe because of climate change and global warming is now much easily accessed in comparison to 20 or 30 years ago. And also the possibility of oil and gas supplies from the Arctic. So there are a number of reasons why we are looking at the Eastern Economic Forum and this is why Prime Minister readily agreed to President Putin’s invitation.

The Annual Summit is of course also taking place in Vladivostok. The last one was in Delhi on October 5 last year and since then the two leaders have met four times. Twice at the G20 in Buenos Aires and Osaka, at the SCO Summit in Bishkek and at the East Asia Summit last November in Singapore.

We have had fairly intensive political interactions since the last summit. From the Russian side we’ve have defence minister Shoygu. We have had two deputy prime ministers after the government reassumed office which is Deputy Prime Minister Trutnev, whom I have mentioned and Deputy Minister Borisov who is the head of the India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission. We have had the speaker of the Russian Duma or the Russian parliament and we have had their NSAs as well.

From our side, of course, last week we had External Affairs Minister who visited at the invitation of Lavrov. We have had the NSA who is gone earlier in July. We had the minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas who has just returned and of course the Commerce and Industry Minister, I mentioned visited Vladivostok along with the four chief ministers. So fairly intensive political interaction in the last one year and particularly after the government has assumed office for the second time.

We have a very special relationship with Russia. The Annual summits are occasions to look at the entire gamut principally focusing on bilateral relations. I think there is an intent on the part of both leaders and Prime Minister has said this on a number of times.

We need to broaden the relationship with Russia beyond civil, nuclear and defence into other areas of economy and one of the reasons why this very sizeable government cum business delegation went to Vladivostok was precisely to fulfil that objective. So there will obviously be discussions on those areas.

Obviously oil and gas is a major sector for us that will be covered. Space is a major area for us, the Russian government has extended cooperation on the Gaganyan program that is an important area for us. The railway sector is important.

We are in the process of finalizing a feasibility report or rather the Russians are in the process of finalizing a feasibility report for some sectors for speed raising in some sectors. And obviously there will inevitably discussions on how we can work better in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in RIC i.e. Russia-India-China and in BRICS and as you know the BRICS Summit is coming up down the road.

If time is available, obviously certain important regional issues will be discussed that includes the situation in the Gulf, discussions on DPRK and of course the fast evolving situation in Afghanistan.

Obviously we expect a number of concrete outcomes. There is the inevitable the joint statement will be there but more important than that will be a roadmap on hydrocarbon cooperation. A five year roadmap stating and laying out what possibilities we have in cooperating on oil & gas both in terms of exploration and exploitation and in terms of purchase in the five year time frame 2019 – 2024 as we seek to diversify our oil & gas supplies beyond complete dependency in the Gulf.

Some specific letters of intent will also be signed between Indian public sector companies and Russian entities for development of oil & gas fields. I will leave the details for the Prime Minister’s press statement. So I will not disclose this at the moment.

A number of MoUs are expected to be signed between Coal India and the Russian counterpart for export of coking coal and for cooperation in the mining sector between the Steel Authority of India Limited and the Russian counterpart for import of metallurgical coal, in the area of audio-visual co production, in the power sector, in developing a maritime route between Chennai and Vladivostok and a number of business MoUs also, 8 or 10 of them in fairly important areas. I won’t go into those details. I am sure these will be covered in the press statement.

So essentially this is the broad outline of the Prime Minister’s program and of the agenda when he visits Russia. I’ll stop there ladies and gentlemen and if there are any questions I’d be happy to answer them on this subject.

DeshGujarat

#Russia

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