Foreign Minister S Jaishankar welcomed his Russian counterpart with elbow bumps while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh gifted a souvenir of a naval ship to the Russian Defence Minister as they arrived in New Delhi for the inaugural ''2+2'' dialogue.
"Pleased to welcome Russian FM Sergey Lavrov. Look forward to a good discussion on our bilateral cooperation and the global situation. Will also be participating in the first 2+2 meeting thereafter," Mr Jaishankar tweeted earlier today, sharing a video of the two exchanging an elbow bump.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, meanwhile, preferred the conventional handshake as he met his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu. A video shared by news agency ANI showed Mr Singh presenting a souvenir of a naval ship (made of brass) to the Russian leader, who in return presented a miniature gun. The gift by Rajnath Singh was a gesture by the Indian government to strengthen the mutual cooperation of the Navy between the two countries, official said.
The first 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was held at the Sushma Swaraj Bhawan today.
The dialogue is expected to focus on "political and defence issues of mutual interest".
"The agenda for the dialogue will cover political and defence issues of mutual interest. The establishment of this new mechanism of two plus two dialogue is expected to further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said earlier.
The 2+2 Ministerial meeting is taking place ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin''s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening.
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