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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent visit to Russia to attend the annual India-Russia bilateral summit that rotates every year between the two capitals since the establishment of an India-Russia "Strategic Partnership" in 2000, although received little attention in western media, has laid the foundations of a more active partnership for the next several years between the two countries.
The visit of the Indian Prime Minister (December 15-17, 2011) to Moscow saw the two sides taking more initiatives to boost economic and trade ties, which have been an area of concern compared to the thriving cooperation in the nuclear, defense, science and space sectors besides international issues, both economic and political.
Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai in his candid statement said "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reviewed the entire gamut of the relationship between the two countries, with an emphasis on strategic sectors, during their meeting in Moscow."
"Singh assured the Russian President that India would stick to its plan of building the Kudankulam nuclear power plant with Russian technology," Mathai said highlighting that Singh also raised the issue of the delay in the delivery of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to India.
Even as there has been continuous opposition from the local people on the setting up of Kudankulam Nuclear Plant, the joint statement made it amply clear the intention of New Delhi to go ahead with the project where the Russian expertise has been sought.
"Both sides noted with satisfaction the successful promotion of cooperation in the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and reaffirmed their commitment to the highest standards of safety of nuclear technologies. Both recognised the competence and rich experience of Russian organisations in design and technical assistance and of Indian organizations in the construction of nuclear power plants and their technical expertise. They looked forward to the early commissioning of the first two units at Kudankulam," the joint statement said.
Trade
Although trade has doubled in a few years due to concerted efforts by both governments to involve the private and public sectors, the absolute volume remains low - around $10 billion annually.
"We would like to know from you what needs to be done to promote the trade and investment aspect of our relationship. Our government is committed to creating a policy environment that is conducive for Russian companies to do business in India and invest in India," Singh told the delegations from both countries. Medvedev stressed the need to "work actively" in promoting bilateral trade and investment because the world economy is in bad shape.
Both sides decided to actively exchange business missions in various fields of cooperation and to work out details on industrial modernisation opportunities in India. They decided to explore the setting up of a joint investment fund and to promote greater cooperation between the regions of the two countries.
Already, the National Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC) and Russian metallurgical giant Severstal are setting up a large joint venture in Odisha to produce steel, Indian companies are discussing long-term agreements for supply of diamonds from Russia, and the Steel Authority of India and NMDC are interested in procuring coking and thermal coal from Russia. Indian firms are also keen on importing copper and nickel, and there have been Russian investments in the telecommunications sector in India and Indian investments in Russia's oil and gas sector.
"But there are vast unexplored areas that await exploitation. I refer in particular to the areas of pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, financial services, power, health, chemicals and aviation," Singh asserted highlighting the immense opportunity for the business communities in both sides to widen their engagements.
Customs Union
Noting the fruitful work carried out by the Indian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation, Russia and India have decided to jointly study the possibility of a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between India and the Belarus-Kazakhstan-Russia Custom Union.
S.Satyanarayanan
