Congress, Russia's ruling party to exchange experiences

New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) India's Congress has signed an agreement with Russia's ruling United Russia Party for exchange of experiences in a host of fields including organisational work and auditing activities, a Congress statement said here Monday.

The agreement was signed by Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi and the Russian party's supreme council presidium secretary S. Neverov during the latter party's convention.

"The parties will consult together and exchange information about the actual aspects of the situation in Republic of India and Russian Federation about bilateral and international relations and will familiarise each other with their experience in the fields of party development, of organisational work, of supervising and audititing activities, " said the agreement.

The agreement envisages exchange of party delegations and seminars on topics of international and India-Russia relations.

According to the Congress statement, Dwivedi, along with party leader Mukul Wasnik, had been sent by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to attend the 13th Congress of United Russia Party May 26.

The 13th congress of the party in Moscow brought together 670 delegates and about 1,600 guests. Serbian President-elect Tomislav Nikolic and 30 foreign delegations attended the event. Members of the Russian party had Saturday elected Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as their leader.

Dwivedi, who spoke at an international round-table on "Eurasian Union - New integration project", said India was following the economic integration process in Eurasian region.

He said Russian economy, along with economy of other BRICS countries, had emerged as an engine of global growth.

Dwivedi said India was keen to see accelerated growth and economic integration within the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries with free circulation of goods and services, investment and movement of people.