Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday held wide-ranging discussions with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on bilateral, regional and international issues

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday held wide-ranging discussions with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on bilateral, regional and international issues. The Indian delegation at the talks included External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, national security advisor JN Dixit and foreign secretary Shyam Sharan. After the discussions, the two sides will come out with a joint declaration which will set out the overall vision of cooperation while spelling out specific areas. The two sides will sign and agreement under which India will join the Global Satellite Navigation System promoted by Russia, sources said. The hallmark of this visit will be on concrete things as also on how to remove "roadblocks" coming in the way of further consolidating bilateral ties. An agreement exempting holders of diplomatic and official passports from visa requirements will be inked, the sources said, adding the two sides were in the final stages of working out an accord for liberalising and facilitating business and tourist visas, they said. Three memoranda of understanding (MOUs) will be signed on banking arrangements in either country. Eight Russian banks have been identified which will have linkages with Indian banks. These include SBI, Canara Bank and ICICI Bank.