Governor of Astrakhan region took part in the meeting with Prime Minister of India

On June, 2nd, the Governor of Astrakhan region Alexander Zhilkin took part in the meeting of the select Russian governors with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum’17 (Saint-Petersburg, 1-3 June 2017).
It should be noted that this year India was a special guest country for the Forum, which was attended by several heads of state, UN Secretary-General and heads of the world's largest companies and renowned financial analysts.
Astrakhan region’s connection to India dates back to the distant past and has since been renowned for its time-tested good neighbourly relations, working closely with Indian state of Gujarat and quite recently bilateral relations have seen significant growth. Representative delegations of the two regions attend major events held in the territory of each other while Russian-Indian business communities seek to find common ground for bolstering trade-economic relations.
During the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Governor Alexander Zhilkin delivered a welcoming speech in which he touched upon the prospects for nurturing Russian-Indian privileged partnership as well as delved deeper into the issues of bilateral cooperation of relevance to both sides. He also assured Narendra Modi that Astrakhan region remained India’s reliable partner, striving for economic development and strengthening of cultural ties with the Indian people. Governor Zhilkin also expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister of India for his particularly sensitive stance towards Astrakhan region.