The assurances were sought by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee who co-chaired the 13th session of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC) alongwith Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Zhukov.

Lavrov and Mukherjee will now hold a bilateral meeting in Harbin, China, on October 24 on the sidelines of the tri-lateral India-China-Russia ministerial meet.

The two sides have reaffirmed their commitment to translate their special relationship to the economic activities and more than double the bilateral trade from the current $4 billion to $10 billion by year 2010.

The economic agenda has been prepared ahead of a planned Moscow summit in November, when prime minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.

"Cooperation in all the forms of energy - hydrocarbons, nuclear and thermal power generation - would be high on the agenda," Mukherjee said, adding that oil majors from both countries were in close contact to look for projects in Russia, India and third countries as part of India''s energy quest.

also see : General reports on Economy