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India and Russia are keen to expand areas of cooperation, and, the forthcoming visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to New Delhi on December 21 and 22, will further boost efforts in this regard, said a Indian Government official. Relations between Russia and India have blossomed in recent years; with India becoming one of the biggest importers of Russian military hardware, said the Indian official. Russia is a long standing and preferred partner of India, especially in the defence sector, and furthering ties in this sector, is to be expected during Medvedev's visit. India and Russia host annual summit meets. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in Russia last year and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in India earlier this year. The engagement continues at the highest level, said the Indian official. The talks between the two leaders and their respective delegations are expected to also focus on the Haripur nuclear power plant project in West Bengal. The Russians are nervous about the controversy surrounding the issue, and, are keen to shift the project to Orissa. "Last ditch efforts are on to sort out the problems regarding the Haripur site." said a government official here. Haripur is a part of the India-Russia nuclear power cooperation deals, which involves the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu and the exploration of the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field in Russia with the participation of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Kudankulam has two Russian-designed reactors under construction now that are expected to be ready for commercial operations in March 2011 and December 2011 respectively. The Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical, Economic and Cultural Cooperation met in New Delhi in November, where they finalized several agreements to be signed during the Medvedev visit. In 2009, trade between Russia and India reached the 7.5 billion dollar mark. It grew 20 percent in the first nine months of 2010, and the countries plan to raise the figure to 20 billion dollars by 2015. However, both sides realize that economic engagement remains "below its potential" given the size of the two economies. Recent trade initiatives between India and Russia include Commerce Minister Anand Sharma leading a sizeable business team to St. Petersburg, which was preceded by the meeting of the India-Russia CEOs Forum, headed on the Indian side by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and by Sistema chief Vladimir Evtushenkov on the Russian side.

Medvedev Visit: Yet another step in strengthening Indo-Russian ties