At UN, Pranab teams up with China, Brazil

New York: India, Russia, China and Brazil have decided that the group would meet from time to time for coordinating positions on various issues.

They discussed a range of issues, including the situation in middle east, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, leading the Indian delegation to the United Nations, participated in the high-level discussions convened by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on Wednesday.

Chinese Foreign Li Zhaoxing and his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim represented their countries.

The representatives also discussed the major economic issues, including logjam in the negotiations in the World Trade Organisation, and steps needed to get them moving again, officials said.

Among other issues that came up were energy conservation and extended use of renewable sources of energy.

Shortly after his arrival in New York on Tuesday to attend the annual General Assembly session, Mukherjee had the occasion of interacting with President George Bush and other world leaders at a reception organised by the American President.

He had brief discussions with several leaders on the issues coming up during the current session of UN General Assembly.

Mukherjee also had wide-ranging discussions with the NATO Secretary General Jaap de hoop Scheffer on Tuesday with a special focus on regional security.

During his half-an-hour long discussions with Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, Mukherjee assured the Nepalese leader of India's full support for carrying forward the peace process in the country.

They also exchanged views on the regional issues, including ongoing dialogue between Kathmandu and leaders of the Maoist movement to ensure peace in the country.

His discussions with the Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis took stock of the fight against terrorism.

The two leaders also dwelt on scope of cooperation in the development of sources for renewable energy and discussed issues of mutual interest at the ongoing Assembly session. Among other leaders he met was Croatian President Stjepan Mesic.