By Pallavi Parmar
Moscow, July 9 (UNI) India and Russia have set a target to achieve $100 billion in trade between the two countries by 2030, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Tuesday.
Addressing the media on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow, Kwatra said, “The agenda of discussion between the two leaders was principally economic. The discussion included elements relating to cooperation between the two countries in the political sphere, a larger space of economic engagement covering extensively trade, capital linkages, energy, science and technology cooperation. Defence and security was also a relevant part of the discussion.”
He mentioned that the two leaders also reviewed the status of bilateral engagement and multilateral groupings including BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the United Nations.
“The major thrust of the discussion was economic cooperation. A significant component of discussion was also devoted to how the partnership between India and Russia can also give a fillip to Make in India, and other manufacturing partnerships that give fillip to aatmanirbharata in India across a whole range of economic areas,” Kwatra said.
“Today's discussion also focused on connectivity corridors. In this regard, the two leaders spoke about the new proposed Eastern Corridor which is called the Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Corridor,” he added.
“The two leaders also focused on important areas in the economic domain that link with the growth of different sectors in both countries, in particular fertilizer supply from Russia to India, which is directly linked to the crop production and the farmer's yield in India.”
“The two leaders also spoke about the need to move forward on the India - Eurasian Economic Union trade and Goods Agreement. We have had one round of discussions between the two countries and it is expected that this will be expedited in months ahead,” Kwatra said.
“The two leaders have set a new trade target of 100 billion by 2030 alongside they have agreed on a joint statement on economic cooperation specifically till 2030,” he added.
On Indians in the Russian Army, Kwatra said, “We don't have a precise indication of specific numbers. We expect and anticipate them to be roughly between 35-50 total number of Indian Nationals…Out of which, 10 Indian nationals we managed to bring back to the country through very active efforts on our own and with a partnership with the Russian system,” he said.
“PM Modi raised this issue very strongly that we should try and get back all Indians. The Russian side promised early discharge of Indian Nationals. Two systems will work on it,” he added.
Besides the joint statement of the annual summit and on economic cooperation, nine other documents were signed between the two sides, he said.
UNI PSP/RN