By Manish Chand, IANS
Moscow : Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday made a strong case for scaling up bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2010 and called for more Russian investment in the country during a two-day visit here.
At a meeting of Indian and Russian businessmen, Singh stressed the need for increased contacts between the business communities of the two countries that have been hobbled by visa problems.
“Trade and business relations between India and Russia have lagged far behind our excellent political understanding and our joint commitment to strategic partnership,” Singh told Indian and Russian businessmen.
“President Putin and I have therefore identified this aspect as having a high priority. We wish to see our economic engagement expand to become a major pillar of the Indo-Russian strategic partnership,” Singh said a couple of hours after his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“If Russia’s trade with China is $35 billion and with the European Union it is more than 200 billion euros, I see no reason why Indi-Russia trade should languish at the level of $4 billion,” Singh asked.
India and Russia had set up a joint study group to suggest ways to enhance bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2010, which has submitted its report. The prime minister said that the two countries have decided to set up a joint task force to implement the recommendations of the group.
Singh outlined immense possibility “for joint investments in areas of banking, IT, telecommunications, high technology sectors, power, pharmaceuticals and textiles”.
Indian and Russian enterprises can collaborate in third country markets, the prime minister said.