India-Russia will hold first 2+2 dialogue in Delhi tomorrow, discussions on key bilateral, global issues to take place

India and Russia will hold the first 2+2 format dialogue here on December 6, and discuss key bilateral, regional and international issues, including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

The inaugural meeting of the newly instituted 2 + 2 dialogue mechanism between both countries will be held at the level of the foreign and defence ministers. "Both ministers are expected to discuss bilateral, regional and international political and defence issues within this format, as you know, we have with very few countries," The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said on Thursday.

He also informed that "the day (December 6) will begin with Defence Minister and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoygu, co-chairing what is known as the Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation, in the morning."

The ministers are expected to hold in-depth discussions of the key regional and international topics, including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and developments in Afghanistan and Syria, as well as exchange views on interaction within the SCO and Russia, India and China (RIC), the Russian embassy had said in a statement on Friday.

On December 6, Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu will meet with their Indian colleagues @DrSJaishankar and @rajnathsingh in New Delhi. They will discuss key regional and international matters, including in the Asia-Pacific," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia had said in a tweet.

Bagchi had said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive here on Monday for the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit.

This will be the first in-person meeting between Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brasilia in November 2019. During the summit, the leaders will review the state and prospects of bilateral relations between the two nations and will discuss ways to further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries, Bagchi had announced.

( With inputs from ANI )

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