NEW DELHI, January 28 (Sputnik) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj will hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of a major three-way meeting in Beijing next week that will also include China's top diplomat, the Indian External Affairs Ministry confirmed Wednesday.
The ministry said in a statement that the two foreign policy chiefs will participate in the 13th Russia-India-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting. A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier the gathering was scheduled for February 2.
During her three-day stay in Beijing on February 1-3, Swaraj will hold fringe talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues. The ministers are expected to inaugurate the 2nd India-China High-Level Media Forum and launch the Visit India Year in the Chinese capital.
Russia, China and India are the founding members of the BRICS group of emerging economies. Moscow and New Delhi are considering using their national currencies in bilateral trade to reduce their dependency on the dollar. In late 2014, Russia and China agreed on a national currencies swap to shore up the depreciating ruble and said they were working to increase the number of mutual payments in rubles and yuan.
