E-Paper
India, Russia to address trade deficit, access issues to unlock full potential
The external affairs ministry said the two sides reviewed the entire gamut of the bilateral trade and economic relationship, and agreed to work together to unlock its full potential
NEW DELHI: India and Russia on Tuesday agreed to work jointly to unlock the full potential of their economic relationship by addressing the trade deficit and market access issues.
These issues were discussed at a meeting of the Inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation that was co-chaired by external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Russia’s deputy prime minister Denis Manturov.
The commission also discussed ways to step up engagement in trade, finance and energy, including nuclear power.
The meeting was held a day after Jaishankar and Manturov said India and Russia are discussing a free trade agreement (FTA) involving the Eurasian Economic Union. The Indian side also flagged its concerns about a widening deficit as two-way trade touched $45 billion, propelled largely by India’s purchases of discounted Russian oil
During Tuesday’s meeting, the two sides reviewed the entire gamut of the bilateral trade and economic relationship, and “agreed to work together to unlock its full potential, including through addressing the trade deficit and market access issues”, the external affairs ministry said.
A readout from the Russian embassy said that the two sides discussed cooperation in trade, finance, industry, energy sector including nuclear power, agriculture, transport, healthcare and education.
“Relations between Russia and India continue progressively developing in all directions. In 2022, despite negative external factors, positive dynamics in the Russian-Indian trade prevailed,” the readout said in an apparent reference to the impact of Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“According to last year’s results, the trade turnover between our countries increased by 2.6 times, exceeding $35 billion. We have completed ahead of schedule the task set by the leaders of our countries to [take] the level of bilateral trade to $30 billion by 2025,” said Manturov, who is also the minister of industry and trade.
The inter-governmental commission is a mechanism to monitor the progress of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Manturov, who was accompanied by senior Russian officials, also held bilateral meetings with commerce minister Piyush Goyal, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
During his meeting with Goyal, Manturov discussed the prospect of cooperation in railways, heavy machinery, aircraft building, shipbuilding, metallurgy and chemicals.
The need to intensify work on an FTA between the EEU and India to “increase and diversify trade turnover was also noted”, the Russian readout said.
At his meeting with Sitharaman, Manturov raised the “necessary steps to ensure uninterrupted mutual settlements, primarily with the use of national currencies”. The mutual interest in concluding an agreement on protection of investments was noted.
