India’s Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan who will head the country’s delegation at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2016), will hold a number of meetings aimed at enhancing cooperation with Russia in the oil and gas sector, the Indian Information Ministry reported Tuesday.
“The agenda of the Indian delegation’s visit includes the issue of developing and strengthening of bilateral relations and further expansion of cooperation in the oil and gas sector,” the ministry’s representative told TASS, adding that Dharmendra Pradhan plans to meet with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak as well heads of Russian companies Rosneft, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil and Novatek.
The delegation consists of top officials of the country’s leading ministries and departments, heads of state oil and gas companies as well as representatives of India’s business circles.
“The cooperation in the hydrocarbon field is one of the key areas for strategic partnership between India and Russia,” the source said.
The two sides reached an agreement to boost cooperation in the oil and gas sector during the visit of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow in December 2015.