The foreign ministers of India, Russia and China would meet in their first structured foreign ministerial meeting on February 14. The meeting will give a major thrust to their trilateral forum agenda that they feel is useful for coordinating their efforts in the international arena.

The foreign ministers of the three countries will discuss on various global issues. They would hold talks on the possible steps on which they could work together.

Earlier, in last two years, foreign ministers of the three countries have been met as many as three times. They had discussed on the sidelines of some international events such as twice on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York and once in the Russian port city of Vladivostok.

In the India-Russia summit held in Delhi, both Manmohan Singh and Vladimir Putin expressed interest in pushing cooperation under the trilateral forum.

Later, Putin said on the trilateral forum that

it would be significant, as it would bring the three influential countries together to address regional and international issues.

He said further that there is a need for greater cooperation between the three countries. In the coming years, the three countries and Brazil will have historic influence on the world, predominantly in the economic cooperation.

Earlier, in July 2006, Manmohan Singh, Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Hu Jintao had met at G-8 summit in St Petersburg.

During the meeting, they had decided to give it the necessary push to establish the forum to fight with challenges such as terrorism, drug trafficking and crime at international level.

Later, Manmohan Singh had said that the coming-together of these countries was in no way directed against any third country.

Putin had stated that the three Asian nuclear powers have practically identical thoughts and policies on major global problems. The countries have their approaches on key world problems are very close as well.

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