EAM Jaishankar to visit Russia, co-chair key trade and economic commission

Jaishankar is visiting Russia during August 23-24 at the invitation of first deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov

Published on: Aug 22, 2026, 19:32:05 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar, New Delhi

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External affairs minister S Jaishankar will visit Russia next week to co-chair a meeting of the Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), a key body overseeing bilateral relations.

The Indian side also called on Russia to address tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, remove bottlenecks in logistics, promote connectivity through the International North-South Transport Corridor, Northern Sea Route and Chennai-Vladivostok Corridor. (@samrat4bjp X/ANI)

Jaishankar is visiting Russia during August 23-24 at the invitation of first deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, the external affairs ministry said on Saturday. Besides co-chairing the 27th session of the IRIGC-TEC, Jaishankar will meet Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss regional and global issues.

India and Russia have two inter-governmental commissions, one for trade and technology-related issues and another for defence and military cooperation, and these are among the highest bilateral decision-making bodies. The India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation is expected to meet later in the year.

At the last meeting of the IRIGC-TEC in Moscow in August 2025, the Indian side reiterated its concerns about the imbalance in two-way trade, driven largely by purchases of Russian energy while Indian exports have remained stagnant.

Bilateral trade touched a record of $68.7 billion in 2024-25, though India’s exports were worth only $4.88 billion.

The Indian side also called on Russia to address tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, remove bottlenecks in logistics, promote connectivity through the International North-South Transport Corridor, Northern Sea Route and Chennai-Vladivostok Corridor, and implement payment mechanisms smoothly to help tackle the imbalance and allow the two sides to achieve the target of growing trade to $100 billion by 2030.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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