Foreign ministers of India, China and Russia will meet in Vladivostok in Russia on Thursday for their first stand-alone meeting to explore possibilities of trilateral cooperation in trade and other fields.

The leaders will also exchange their assessments on the United Nations reforms, including the proposed Security Council expansion.

External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, who arrived in Vladivostok on Tuesday, will hold discussions on a wide range of regional and international issues with his counterparts from Russia Sergei Lavrov and Li Zhaoxing from China.

The three leaders will also discuss issues like international terrorism, environment and revival of multilateral approaches to global issues.

Indian officials said the three countries attached special importance to strengthening mechanisms to jointly combat the scourge of terrorism and trafficking in narcotics.

At the trilateral meeting, Singh, Lavrov and Li will seek to build on convergences and commonalities among the three countries, they said.

The foreign ministers of the three countries have met thrice in the past -- twice on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2002 and 2003 and the next year in Almaty.

But this is the first occasion when they are assembling together specially for the trilateral meeting. This reflects the upgradation of the status of these meetings, the officials said.

Earlier report:
India-Russia-China trilateral meeting next week