New Delhi, Jul 10 (UNI) Russia and India need to sign an updated investment protection agreement ahead of the trade and investment cooperation programme by 2030, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Russia and India also complete work on certain other documents "capable of really bringing interaction to a new level," before endorsing the programme, Lavrov said after talks with External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow on Friday.
The Russian government is also interested in getting the negotiation process underway between India and the Eurasian Economic Commission on the free trade zone, as an appropriate working group is already there, he said.

"We are interested in talks between India and the Eurasian Economic Commission on free trade zone establishment to start as soon as possible.
We hope the date for the first meeting will be fixed soon," TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is a free trade agreement that came into being in 2015 to enhance economic cooperation.
Its member countries include Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan Russia is India's biggest trade partner among EAEU nations, Bala Venkatesh Varma, India's Ambassador to Russia, has earlier said that the creation of a free trade zone between India and the EAEU would see an immediate boost in trade turnover by about 25 per cent.
Lavrov said, "Current mechanisms of the intergovernmental commission will work out further measures to stimulate trade-economic and investment cooperation" in the sphere of bilateral economic ties between Moscow and New Delhi,
"The good sign is that the trade turnover rose by almost 12 per cent over the first four months. This trend should be fortified in all respects," said Lavrov.
India and Russia have previously discussed ways of doubling trade to USD 30 billion by 2025. The two countries are looking to diversify the trade basket.
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