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Russia and India have been exploring ways develop their bilateral trade partnership, with officials and experts participating at the “Russia and India: Towards a New Bilateral Agenda”, organized by the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) in Moscow. The event, which took place last Thursday (March 27) with support from the Indian embassy, highlighted that while there are significant synergies between the economies, more can be done to further strengthen economic ties.
The conference included government officials, diplomats, and foreign policy experts from both countries to review bilateral ties and discuss future areas of cooperation. That was based upon the existing target of increasing bilateral trade to US$100 billion in the next five years, as agreed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Moscow in July 2024. Bilateral trade levels reached US$66 billion in 2024. It was just US$8.2 billion in 2019.
Ivan Timofeev, the RIAC director-general, stated that “Our trade turnover has skyrocketed. We have achieved levels which we couldn’t have imagined before. Energy is one of the driving forces, along with the traditional spheres of our cooperation, such as nuclear energy, military-technical cooperation. Food security is also a very prospective field.” He added that the two countries will continue to develop political and especially economic ties due to their “mutual complementarity.”
According to Pankaj Saran, a former ambassador to Russia, while cooperation at the government-to-government level is strong, there is limited awareness between Indian and Russian entrepreneurs. Saran said “We have to address that. We just have to make sure people know each other – people who matter. Business startups, investors, academics – so much more people-to-people exchange, many more flights, more exchanges. That’s how awareness will grow.”
India is currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, which will also help improve bilateral trade with Russia. Plans are also underway for the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to visit India later this year. He last visited India in 2021.
For the latest updates on Russia-India trade and investment, please refer to the India section on this website here.
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