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हिंदी खबरें 
Kolkata: Describing India as an 'Economic superpower in the making', Russian Ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin has hailed the country's over seven per cent GDP growth and said despite the global economic downturn it has shown an upward tendency.
Speaking on the occasion of the centenary celebration of the Russian Consulate General in Kolkata here yesterday, the Russian envoy said he now found that India, which he first visited in 1971, was changing rapidly. ''In early 1970s India was solving various economic and social problems and now the country has overcome all hurdles,'' he felt.
Stating that bilateral relations between India and Russia had reached new heights, Mr Kadakin rued even before India's independence the then USSR enjoyed significant cooperation with country in various sectors.
''We established diplomatic relations even before India became independent,'' he observed and asserted that the long and strategic partnership with the country had remained a cornerstone of Russia's foreign policy.
Referring to the long diplomatic presence of Russia in Kolkata since 1910, Mr Kadakin said the first Russian Consul General in the then Calcutta Alfonse Geikin had done a great deal in hostile environment under the British rule to enhance fruitful relations.
The centenary celebration of the Russian Consulate in Kolkata shows significance of the Russian diplomatic presence in India, the Ambassador pointed out.
About the close cultural ties between the two countries for long, Mr Kadakin said the first Russian drama in India was held in Kolkata in the 18th century. The same tradition was still in force, the Ambassador said.
