India and Russia are discussing a free trade agreement, a move that would further deepen bilateral commercial ties that have flourished since war broke out in Ukraine….reports Asian Lite News
National Security Adviser (NSA), Ajit Doval on Monday met Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Valentinovich Manturov and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues to implement the India-Russia strategic partnership.
Manturov is on a two-day visit to India to co-chair the Intergovernmental Russian-Indian Commission, which is aimed at enhancing trade ties between the two countries. India and Russia are discussing a free trade agreement, a move that would further deepen bilateral commercial ties that have flourished since war broke out in Ukraine.
On the first day of his visit, Manturov co-chaired the 24th India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC)
The IRIGC-TEC is the main institutional mechanism supervising economic cooperation. It integrates six working groups on economic and trade cooperation, modernisation and industrial cooperation, energy, tourism and culture, science and technology, and IT.
A plenary meeting of the intergovernmental commission (IGC) will be held on Tuesday, following which the co-chairs will sign the final protocol of the 24th IGC meeting. Manturov will be co-chairing the meeting of the bilateral Inter-Governmental Commission with External Affairs Minister S Jaishanakr today.
Both sides plan to discuss the issues of bilateral trade, and economic and humanitarian cooperation. Manturov will also hold a number of bilateral meetings, the Russian Embassy in India said in a tweet.
A number of institutionalized mechanisms have been set up for the development of economic cooperation between the two countries. The primary institution at the government level is IRIGC-TEC.
Meeting with biz representatives
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov on Monday met representatives of Russian and Indian businesses in New Delhi.
The business forum participants discussed issues to further enhance Russian-Indian practical cooperation, including within the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC). Indian business representatives got acquainted with a cluster investment platform – a new measure of support, which can be applied to joint projects, the Russian Embassy in India said in a tweet.
The platform provides soft loans for the manufacturing of priority products, subsidies for pilot batches, preferences for insurance premiums and income tax.
Addressing the gathering, Manturov, who is also Russia’s Minister of Industry and Trade, termed IGC a “unique mechanism” for comprehensive discussion of topical issues on the Russian-Indian agenda.
“The IGC is a unique mechanism for a comprehensive discussion of topical issues on the Russian-Indian agenda with the participation of specialised departments and organizations of the two countries. We are talking not only about trade and economic relations, but also about humanitarian areas of interaction, such as education and culture,” Manturov said.
Manturov, who arrived earlier today in New Delhi, spoke about the measures taken to strengthen Russia’s “technological sovereignty”.
He noted that there is no goal to completely replace everything.
“We will rely on trusted foreign partners. We will make every effort to expand our cooperation ties to exchange competence and experience in the most promising technological areas,” he said.
Russian Embassy said in a tweet that particular importance has been attached to the issues of mutual access of products to the markets of both nations. “Together with the Eurasian Economic Commission, it is planned to intensify negotiations with India to conclude a free trade agreement.”
It said an agreement on the encouragement and mutual protection of investment is being worked out.
“Additionally, the issue of signing a #RussiaIndia agreement on the encouragement and mutual protection of investment is being worked out. Trade preferences and mechanisms that guarantee the safety of investment will be in demand by both Russian and Indian businesses.”
Sergey E Cheremin, Minister of Moscow City Government, told the media that they discussed the opportunity of wider cooperation with Indian banks and Russian commercial banks. He said that Russia is looking at the opportunity to promote cooperation in pharma, manufacturing, car manufacturing, producing spare parts and telecom equipment.
“We discussed the opportunity of wider cooperation with Indian banks and Russian commercial banks, because of the misbalance in the bilateral trade between the two countries,” Sergey E Cheremin said.
“We are looking at the opportunity to promote cooperation in pharma, manufacturing, car manufacturing, producing spare parts, microelectronics, and telecom equipment. We will support the joint efforts to promote our bilateral technoparks for start-ups in the field of IT & digitalisation,” he added.
Cheremin stressed that Russia is seeking to enhance inter-regional cooperation between Indian states and “our national regions”.
“We want to enhance interregional cooperation between the states of India & our national regions. We are ready to look at the opportunity to sign a cooperation between the Maharashtra government-Moscow & Uttar Pradesh government-Moscow city government that will be our next page of development with smart and safe city cooperation,” he said. (ANI)