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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, left, shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.
New Delhi, India -- Close allies since the Soviet days, India and Russia mark the first decade of their strategic partnership as the two countries hold their annual summit in New Delhi Tuesday.
Talks between visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are expected to cover a whole range of issues, such as defense, business, space and energy.
India, officials say, sources more than 60% of its military hardware supplies from Russia.
President Medvedev's trip to New Delhi follows similar trade-promoting visits by U.S. President Barack Obama, France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao.
Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikohodko told his country's Interfax news agency that Moscow looked to greater cooperation with New Delhi, especially in the designing of civil and military aircraft, such as broad-fuselage jets.
"Indian colleagues are interested in that (cooperation)," Interfax quoted him as saying Monday.
Indian officials too attach a huge priority to their country's relationship with Russia, which they describe as a time-tested friend.
"There is confidence on both sides that neither country will seek to develop ties with third countries at the expense of the other's vital interests," said India's external affairs minister S.M. Krishna.
The two nations forged a strategic partnership in 2000 and have since been holding summits every year.
"I feel we are in a position to chart an even more ambitious path for the India-Russia strategic partnership in the coming decades and this (visit) will raise our bilateral ties to an even higher level," Krishna said in an interview to Russian media.
Apart from business and defense deals, both countries will also discuss the situation in the troubled Afghanistan-Pakistan region, officials say.
Besides their collaboration in space, hydrocarbons and civil-nuclear energy are defined as other key areas of cooperation between the former Cold War allies. At present, two nuclear power plants are being built in southern India with Russian assistance.
"Both sides see hydrocarbons as well as civil nuclear energy cooperation as the twin pillars for a long-term strategic energy partnership," said Indian external affairs spokesman Vishnu Prakash.
Nonetheless, the two sides agree business ties between them are still weak.
India and Russia recorded a turnover of $7.46 billion in their bilateral trade in 2009.
"(T)he short point here is that both sides recognize that trade is not commensurate to potential and we need to do a lot more to get the trade to a higher level," said Ajay Bisaria, a joint-secretary at the Indian external affairs ministry.
India and Russia have now, therefore, set a trade target of $20 billion for 2015.
"All the ingredients for a dynamic economic partnership, based on technology and innovation, are already in place," said Krishna, referring to what he called ambitious economic modernization programs that the two nations are pursuing.
