India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi on Friday, ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit.
Modi gifted Putin a Russian translation of the Thirukkural during the meeting, expressing confidence it would strengthen people-to-people ties.
The Thirukkural, a Tamil classic of 1,330 couplets by poet-saint Thiruvalluvar, was written around two thousand years ago.
The bilateral talks covered trade, industry, energy, mobility and critical resources, including discussions on the rail sector and steel value chain.
Putin’s arrival in Delhi comes as India hosts the BRICS Summit on September 12 and 13.
India-Russia relations span decades of defence, energy and diplomatic cooperation, with the two countries holding regular bilateral summits.
The two leaders have met on multiple occasions in recent years, both at bilateral summits and on the sidelines of multilateral forums such as BRICS and the SCO.
Officials from both sides were expected to hold follow-up working-level discussions in the weeks after the summit to translate the leaders’ talks into concrete agreements.
India has traditionally balanced its ties with Russia alongside its relationships with Western partners, a dynamic that continues to shape its foreign policy approach.
Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit, which India is hosting on September 12 and 13.
The Thirukkural, attributed to the Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar, comprises 1,330 two-line couplets offering guidance on virtue, wealth and statecraft, written roughly two thousand years ago.
PM Modi said he was confident people-to-people contact between India and Russia would grow with the availability of the Thirukkural in Russian translation.
The bilateral discussions were expected to cover trade, industry, energy, mobility and critical resources, alongside deeper industrial cooperation.
Talks reportedly touched on plans related to INNOPROM participation in India, as well as collaboration in the rail sector and the steel value chain.
PM Narendra Modi with President Vladimir Putin, PIB/Wikimedia Commons, GODL-India
