Tuesday, May 31 2005 11:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh left for the Russian city of Vladivostok today (May 31, 2005) for talks with his counterparts from Russia and China on regional security and stability, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, UN Security Council (UNSC) reforms and cooperation between the three countries in the energy sector and trade.

Cooperation in high-tech sector and space could also figure in his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Li Zhaoxing from China.

Foreign Ministers of the three countries have met three times in the past - twice on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2002 and 2003 and the last year (2004) in Almaty when they gathered for the meeting of the Confidence-Building Measures (CBM) in Asia (CICA).

But this is the first occasion when they are assembling together especially for the trilateral meeting. It reflects the upgradation in status of these meetings, official sources said.

The three leaders will review a host of regional and international issues, including overall UN reforms covering expansion of the Security Council, terrorism and environment as also revival of multilateral approaches to global issues.

During his stay in the far-eastern Russian city, Singh will also hold separate bilateral meetings with his Chinese and Russian counterparts.

The sources made it clear that the trilateral engagement was not aimed at creating any power bloc, "ganging up" or to target any country.

At their last meeting in Almaty, the Foreign Ministers had identified energy as a specific area, which offered immense potential for enhanced cooperation among the three countries.

For India, this is an area of special significance. It has put in $ 1 billion investment in the Sakhalin-I oil and gas mega Russian project and was "looking at further investments in this area", the sources said.

While the gas component is expected to be on stream by the end of this year, oil production is likely from the middle of next year.

The Foreign Ministers will also discuss "practical" areas of cooperation on the economic side.

All three countries acknowledge that there were many areas like wheat, rice, tea, cotton, gas and oil where they were the world's number one, two or three producers.

The approach of the three sides was to develop on commonalities for taking forward their economic ties to new levels.

This also involved reaching understanding on issues of common concern covering international trade under World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The sources said the three Ministers would also discuss the leading role the business communities in India, Russia and China could play in energising economic relations.

Two-way trade between India and China has already touched $ 13 billion and was rising at a fast rate.

Trade between India and Russia was also picking up. Trade ties between Russia and China were dynamic. Singh and his two counterparts will discuss how to synergise these complementarities for mutual benefit.