BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan left for Russia on Wednesday to strengthen Indo-Russian cooperation in steel and petroleum sectors.
Pradhan’s visit assumes significance as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Russia on September 4 to expand cooperation in several areas including defence, trade, civil nuclear energy and hydrocarbon. During his visit, Pradhan will meet Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak.
In a telephonic conversation with Novak, he discussed ways to strengthen India-Russia energy cooperation. He also conveyed India’s interest to further enhance footprints in the Russian exploration and production sectors. He invited Russian oil and gas companies to invest in building gas infrastructure in India and expand the city gas distribution networks.