Though the trade turnover between Russia and India has been increasing recently, it still could do better. This is the final statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin after meeting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Moscow in October this year.
It was already the third meeting between the two partners in 2013.
In 2012, mutual trade turnover between Russia and India reached a record $11 billion. According to the Russian statistics, in the first half of this year trade volume already topped $5.5 billion. The goal is to bring mutual trade turnover to $20 billion by 2015.
Russia and India are actively working together in many sectors. According to India’s Commerce Ministry, among the areas particularly significant for cooperation between the two countries are infrastructure development, aviation, power generation, shipbuilding, energy, bio and nano-technologies, fertilisers, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, agricultural and food items, automobile industry and diamonds.
The volume of Russian capital accumulated in the Indian economy is about $600 million, while the Indian investments in Russia exceed $3 billion. However, for example, India’s exports to Russia in 2012 at $2 billion was less than 1% of Russia’s total global procurement of over $350 billion during the year. Thus, there is a huge scope for increasing shipments to Russia.
“It’s nice to see a boost in trade turnover, which could and should actually pick up the pace a bit, and the character of exports that are mostly highly processed goods,” Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Indian Prime Minister in October.
India has identified Russia as a key country for intensifying its trade engagement. Another step closer expected in the near future is India’s joining a bilateral free trade agreement with Russia.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/radio_broadcast/no_program/255474664/