Moscow: As the US ratchets pressure over expanding sanctionsagainst a defiant Tehran, foreign ministers of India, Russia and China meet here today (Feb 13, 2007) for a trilateral meeting to refine 'common approach'to key global issues like the Iranian nuclear crisis, counter-terrorism and thefestering chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

This is the second meeting between the foreign ministers ofthe three countries. The tone for this trilateral meeting was set duringRussian President Valdimir Putin's talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singhhere last month. 

 

"Important global issues will be discussed. But we mustbear in mind that it is not targeted at any third country," officialsources told sources.

 

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Sergei Lavrov ofRussia and Li Zhaoxing of China willdiscuss a host of regional and international issues and evolve ways to deepentrilateral cooperation in the economic arena.

"Cooperation between the three nations is not something virtual. It is based on the countries' common approaches to the basic issues ofglobal development in the 21st century," Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Mikhail Kamynin said in Moscow ahead of Foreign Minister SergeiLavrov's visit to India today. 

The trilateral meeting is aimed at strengthening "thedemocratic principles of the new world order, on an understanding of theimportance of multilateral efforts for maintaining strategic stability at theglobal and regional levels, and on the recognition of the UN's central role inthis process," Kamynin said, according to Russian news agency Ria Novosti. 

As the Iranian crisis escalates, the three ministers arelikely to discuss a compromise formula for persuading Iran to resume negotiations within the P5, Germany format before the IAEA submits its crucial report Feb 21 that couldform a basis for harsher sanctions against Tehran.

Days before the trilateral meeting, a Chinese expert saidthat Beijing was opposed to the use of force andlike New Delhiwants the Iranian issue resolved within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"Chinademands Iranshould follow international rules. In the meantime, China believes that thisissue should be solved in the framework of the IAEA," Zhao Gancheng.

The first summit-level meeting between Manmohan Singh, Putinand Chinese President Hu Jintao in the trilateral framework was held in theRussian city of St. Petersburgin July 2006, on the sidelines of the G-8 summit.