RIC foreign ministers to discuss trade, politics
November 9, 2013, 6:26 am

Chinese and Russian Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Sergei Lavrov will discuss regional and global issues of “mutual interest” with their Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid [Xinhua]

“This mechanism has become an important platform for the three countries to coordinate their positions and seek consensus and cooperation,” said Hong Lei in Beijing.

Chinese and Russian Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Sergei Lavrov will discuss regional and global issues of “mutual interest” with their Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid.

The two-day trilateral meeting of the RIC will be held in New Delhi from November 10.

The Chinese Foreign Minister will also attend the Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) being held in New Delhi around the same time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said.

RIC, formed more than a decade ago, is focussed on strategic issues of multilateral cooperation and democratic international relations.

“The three countries are emerging markets and share common views on lot of international and regional issues,” Hong said.

With two of these nations being permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the RIC group plays a crucial role in global politics.

Sunday’s meet is expected to discuss the Syrian crisis and the Iranian nuclear standoff as well as possible instability in Afghanistan post NATO pullout in 2014.

All three have taken similar stands on Syria, vociferously opposing any military interference against Damascus.

The three sides are also eyeing transport links for energy resources through Afghanistan and Central Asia routes that would further boost trade ties.

Russia is the world’s biggest energy exporter while China and India top the list of energy consumers.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech in Kazakhstan in September that underlined his backing for the re-establishment of the ancient Silk Route that could bind China and India to resource-rich Central Asia, a trans-Eurasian project spanning from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.

Meanwhile, Chinese spokesperson Hong stressed that China believed that this 2013 RIC meeting will “yield positive outcomes and make contributions to maintain regional peace and stability”.

The last meeting of the three Foreign Ministers in Moscow in April 2012 spelled out common concerns on issues ranging from North Korea and West Asia.

Among the many RIC forums are the Trilateral Experts Meeting on Disaster Management, Trilateral Business Forum, and Trilateral Academic Scholars Dialogue.

With inputs from Agencies