Wuhan: External Affairs Minister S M
Krishna arrived here on Sunday to attend a meeting of foreign
ministers of Russia, India and China (RIC), where issues like
UN Security Council reforms and counter-terrorism will be
discussed to promote practical trilateral cooperation.
The 10th RIC Foreign Ministers` meeting is being held
in Wuhan, the capital city of central China`s Hubei Province,
and will have important sessions on political, economic and
trade related topics, besides regional and international
issues.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov too arrived in the city for
talks to be held on Sunday and Monday.
The three foreign ministers would discuss
international and regional issues of common interest aimed at
promoting practical cooperation among the three countries.
Besides the trilateral meeting that will be held
tomorrow, Krishna will today hold separate bilateral meetings
with Yang and Lavrov.
During his bilateral talks with Yang, Krishna is
expected to raise the thorny issue of stapled visas to
residents of Jammu and Kashmir, among other sensitive matters.
The trilateral meeting tomorrow will undertake
assessments of the current international situation in the
context of the outcome of the summit of the G-20 in Seoul.
The ministers will discuss issues related to the
process of reform of the system of global financial management
and international financial institutions, as well as building
cooperation among Russia, India and China in the framework of
the BRIC and the G20, besides exchanging views on energy
security and climate issues.
Besides the strategic issues, RIC meeting will take up
issues relating to disaster relief, agriculture and public
health, deepening communication among academic, industrial and
business circles as well as promote multi-lateral cooperation
and democratic international relations.
The meeting will also take up issue of a new, improved
security and cooperation architecture in the Asia-Pacific
region and the role of the RIC in the system of multilateral
regional associations, officials said.
Also on the table will be the issue of the UN Security
Council reform.
The ministers will consider plans for coordinating
actions of Russia, India and China in multilateral regional
organisations the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO),
where India has an observer status, the ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF) and other groupings.
The agenda of the trilateral includes an exchange of
views on the most pressing regional issues of concern to
Moscow, New Delhi and Beijing the situation in Afghanistan
and the Iranian nuclear programme.
The last meeting of the RIC foreign ministers was held
in Bangalore in October 2009 during which the three countries
discussed a host of issues, including those relating to
terrorism, climate change and reducing the impact of global
recession.
PTI
