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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee held a one-to-one meeting before their delegations joined them for consultations in an enlarged format.

Various aspects of strategic cooperation in the trade and economic, political, energy, military-technical, scientific and cultural spheres, as well as prospects for joint infrastructure projects and topical international and regional problems were discussed.

Special attention was paid to the fight against extremism, terrorism, the situation in Central and South Asia. The two sides expressed concern over the growing subversive and terrorist activities carried out by the remnants of the Taliban movement and al-Qaeda, and the growing production and export of narcotics from Afghanistan. Vladimir Putin and Atal Bihari Vajpayee voiced support for the efforts of the international community aimed at ensuring the national revival of Afghanistan and agreed to continue joint work on the issue in the framework of international forums.

The two leaders stated their common geopolitical views and restated their commitment to further develop many-sided interaction at various levels, including at the United Nations. Russia and India spoke in favour of increasing the number of permanent UN Security Council members and reforming the organisation’s institutions to make it more effective and adapt it to the changes that had taken place over the past decades.

The Indian Prime Minister invited the Russian President to visit New Delhi. The invitation was gratefully accepted. The date of the visit will be agreed through diplomatic channels during the course of its preparation.

Based on the results of the talks Vladimir Putin and Atal Bihari Vajpayee adopted a joint statement and Declaration on the Global Challenges and Threats to International Security and Stability. The members of the delegations also signed a number of bilateral documents.

After the Russian-Indian summit the Russian President and the Indian Prime Minister held a joint press conference.