Modi, Putin meet on ties, sign agreements on cooperation

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on bilateral ties here on Saturday on the sidelines of the 8th BRICS summit,

This is the 17th India-Russia annual summit.

BRICS groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. India is the chair of BRICS for this year.

After the summit, the two leaders witnessed the signing of 16 agreements, including the ones on the delivery of S-400 "Triumpf" anti-missile defence systems worth over 5 billion U.S. dollars, collaboration in making four state-of-art frigates and setting up a joint production facility for making Kamov helicopters.

The two sides also signed deals on smart city projects, ship building, oil refinery infrastucture development, energy, high speed train, cyber security and specialist training in Andhra Pradesh, among others.

At the joint press conference after their meeting, Modi said "An old friend is better than two new friends." Modi also appreciated Russia's clear stand on terrorism.

For his part, Putin praised the enhanced cooperation between the two sides, saying "Industries of both countries are improving cooperation. Military and technical cooperation is also improving".

The joint press briefing was also attended by Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Energy Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. Endit