Ex-Foreign Sect Bats For Cementing Bilateral Ties With Russia

New Delhi: Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal has underscored on strengthening of bilateral strategic partnership with Russia as it has stood the test of time and has immense significance for the future of India.

Delivering the first Professor Arun Mohanty Memorial Lecture on Monday, Sibal, a celebrated diplomat, said the India-Russia relationship has the potential of shaping the future of the country’s science and technology, nuclear energy, defence and trade. Both the countries are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

“A stronger Russia is in India’s interest as the relations between the two nations is a time-tested one,” he said.

Sibal said there is a greater convergence in the approaches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin towards building a stronger India-Russia Strategic partnership in the 21st century. Russia has shown intest to invest in the Make in India initiative and in India’s defence industrial corridor which will further boost India-Russia bilateral relations.

India and Russia can also join hands together in dialogue and nation building process of Afghanistan. He suggested a greater role for Russia in order to promote multilateralism and multiculturalism in the world.

Professor Ajay Patnaik, Dean School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University stated that Professor Mohanty’s scholarly and academic contributions are immense, in-depth and wide-ranging.

The phenomenal achievements and contribution of Prof. Mohanty to the Russian and Central Asian studies will always be cherished by the scholars and the academic world.