India, Russia review joint projects before Modi-Putin summit

The Dollar Business Bureau

As India and Russia gear up for a summit on June 1 between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two sides on Wednesday agreed to take forward joint projects in various sectors such as nuclear energy and collaborative projects in other countries.

Both sides reviewed the progress on implementation of several key joint initiatives in economic areas at the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) meeting, a forum for addressing key issues related to bilateral ties.

During the meet, there was convergence of interests and views on a range of issues, according to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The meeting was co-chaired by Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

At a joint press conference, Swaraj labelled the discussion as ‘fruitful’ and stated that there was agreement to further strengthen the strategic cooperation between the two nations.

Both leaders took stock of the development made on several bilateral issues since they last met on September 13, 2016 and also the preparations for upcoming India-Russia Annual Summit, which is going to be held in St Petersburg (Russia) on June 1, the MEA said.

The two leaders also decided to work closely in the weeks and months to come for taking forward the collaborative projects in various fields such as nuclear energy, renewable energy, energy-efficient technologies, combined projects in third countries and development of critical technology for human spaceflight programme.

In addition, other areas of cooperation include trade in agro, seafood and dairy products, cooperation at sub-national level such as cities, regions, states, participation in each other's major trade events, further promoting stronger academic and research linkages and joint collaborative research centres (CRCs) in universities and common recognition of degrees.

The two sides also agreed to take forward the operationalisation of green corridor in order to facilitate speedier clearance of shipments of approved list of exporters eased by the respective administrations and customs based on exchange of shipment numbers on real-time basis, besides speeding up of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks between the Eurasian Economic Union and India.