Patil leaves Moscow for St. Petersburg

M V Meenakshisundaram

Moscow, Sep 5 (PTI) President of India Pratibha Patil on
Saturday left here for St. Petersburg, the former imperial
capital of Russia, where she is expected to meet district
officials and visit a school that teaches Hindi.

Patil, who arrived here on Wednesday on a five-day state
visit to Russia, left for St. Petersburg after holding
extensive talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on regional and international
issues and efforts to fight terrorism.

In St. Petersburg, she is expected to meet the
plenipotentiary representative of the President to the North-
West District and visit a Russian school that teaches Hindi.

During her talks with the Russian leadership here,
Moscow said that its ties with New Delhi were defined by the
"special trust".

Patil, on her part, said "the time-tested relationship
between India and the Russian Federation has been marked by
continuity, trust and mutual understanding."

Noting that the economic relations have become the
"cornerstone" of the bilateral ties, both countries agreed to
raise the volume of the trade between them to USD ten billion
by 2010.

"Indeed, our friendship has stood the test of time as our
two countries have come to each other's aid in times of
difficulty," Patil said at a reception hosted by her Russian
counterpart in her honour. PTI