Moscow, Nov 13: With India negotiating specifics of a deal to buy Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral Gorshkov", Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov today called on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee here and said he was looking forward to holding talks with his Indian counterpart George Fernandes to reach "serious agreements". "We hope forthcoming talks (with Fernandes) will produce serious agreements," he said after receiving an invitation to visit India during his meeting with Vajpayee.

Although an Indian official said the two countries are still discussing the specifics of the deal and it may take a little more time to finalise it, Russian news agency Itar-Tass has said that the contract for the 44,000-tonne aircraft carrier was likely to be finalised by the end of this year. Observing that he planned to visit New Delhi later this month, Ivanov said "military cooperation with India was developing dynamically and has very good prospects. Our fleet have carried out successful large-scale exercises this year", the news agency said.

It said the aircraft carrier has been anchored at the shipyard in Severodvinsk since 1999 and checks of its machinery and structures have been completed, outdated equipment and weapons dismantled and fuel tanks unloaded and cleaned.

Bureau Report