Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs, on the invitation by H.E. Mr. Nikolay Shulginov, Minister of Energy of Russia, will lead an official and business delegation to Russia from 1– 5 September 2021, to, inter alia, participate in the 6th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) Summit in Vladivostok. This will be the first overseas visit of Minister Shri Puri since assumption of the office as the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India will be addressing virtually the Plenary Session of the EEF Summit, in which H.E. Mr Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia will be present. Shri Puri will be present at the EEF Summit during Hon’ble Prime Minister’s address to it. It may be recalled that Hon’ble Prime Minister of India was the Chief Guest at the EEF in 2019.

During his visit, the Minister will have meetings with H.E. Nikolay Shulginov, Minister of Energy of Russia, to review bilateral energy cooperation in the energy sector, and with H.E. Alexei Chekunkov, Russian Minister for Development of Far East and Arctic, to discuss the collaboration between Indian and Russian companies in that region.

In addition, along with the Russian Minister of Energy, Shri Puri will co-chair India-Russia Business Dialogue, on the sidelines of EEF. He will also hold discussions with Russian Energy majors including Rosneft, GazpromNeft and Sibur.

India and Russia have robust and growing bilateral energy cooperation, which is a key pillar of Special and Privileged Strategic partnership between the two countries. Russia is the largest investment destination for the Indian oil and gas companies. Indian public sector companies have made investments in Russia of about US$ 16 billion, including in the Far East and East Siberia, in oil and gas assets such as Sakhalin-1, Vankor and Taas-Yuryakh. Russia is also the largest investor in India’s oil & gas sector, and India is encouraging further investments by Russian companies in India’s oil and gas sector, especially in gas infrastructure and the E & P sector.

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