In his televised opening remarks at the nodal arms export control body meeting Putin underscored that Russia should seek to develop weapons together with foreign partners, including India. "Our primary objective is to find new forms of cooperation. The priority here is certainly joint weapon development and their subsequent serial production both for the domestic and export markets," he stressed.

During the Russian President's visit to New Delhi in January, India and Russia agreed to jointly develop and produce a fifth generation fighter aircraft and multi-role transport aircraft with the involvement of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Russia's Sukhoi Corporation.

Putin also lauded the performance of NPO Mashinostroyenia, the Russian partner in the BrahMos Aerospace joint venture with the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

According to local defence experts BrahMos Aerospace has been given a green signal by the two governments for the export of its deadly anti-ship cruise missiles to third "friendly" countries. India and Russia have a long history of military cooperation, which goes back almost half a century.

The existing Indo-Russian military-technical cooperation programme till 2010 covers up to 200 projects to the tune of $18 billion. Addressing the MTC Putin said that Russia has defence exports orders worth $30 billion. India and China remain leading importers of Russian armaments, accounting for some 80 per cent of the country's total weapons exports.

But Russia, as local defence experts say is trying to break out of the "Indo-Chinese ghetto" and has been looking to expand its presence on arms markets in Latin America and the Middle East, and currently supplies weapons to more than 60 countries.