Yekaterinburg (Russia), May 15: India, Russia and China today kicked off a trilateral meeting here to discuss a wide range of regional and global issues including counter- terrorism, food and energy security and the rapidly unfolding economic scenario on the backdrop of US subprime crisis.

Warmly welcoming External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Chinese colleague Yang Jiechi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov invited them for informal discussions on the issues touched upon in their earlier Vladivostok, New Delhi and Harbin meetings.

At the end of RIC ministerial meeting, a joint communique stating the common stand of India, Russia and China will be issued.

According to sources, for the first time, the three nations are expected to express a common stand on the nuclear issues of Iran, North Korea and the situation in Afghanistan.

Mukherjee arrived here yesterday on a three-day visit.

Earlier this morning, he had a one-to-one meeting with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.

Yang, who personally welcomed Mukherjee at the entrance of his hotel, described the bilateral Sino-Indian relations as "steady".