New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in which the two leaders reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern.

President Putin conveyed his inability to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi and informed that Russia would be represented by the country’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a PMO release said.

Expressing an understanding for Russia’s decision, PM Modi thanked President Putin for Russia’s consistent support to all initiatives under India’s G20 Presidency, it said.

“The two leaders reviewed progress on a number of issues of bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern, including the recently concluded BRICS Summit in Johannesburg,” the release said.

The two leaders agreed to remain in touch.

India holds G20 Presidency and the G20 Summit will be held in Delhi on September 9 and 10.

G20 was founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis as a forum for the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to discuss global economic and financial issues. It was upgraded to the level of Heads of State or Government in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis of 2007, and, in 2009, was designated the “premier forum for international economic cooperation”.

The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.