By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia’s Prime Minister Victor Zubkov Monday told his visiting Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh that banking and engineering are two major factors that can boost the growing bilateral trade between the two countries, adding that first Russian state-owned bank will open branch in India.
Singh, who arrived in Moscow Sunday on a two-day official visit, met Zubkov before his talks in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin.
Zubkov said trade with India was becoming more diversified, and that the share of cooperation in the engineering sector was on the rise.
The Russian premier said bilateral trade, which grew 27 per cent to reach $4 billion last year, involved, among other things, active cooperation in the banking sector. He said Russia’s state-owned Vneshtorgbank has been authorized to open a branch in India.
“The operations of the first branch of a Russian bank in India will hopefully help to increase mutual trade more dramatically,” Zubkov said.
Zubkov, who was Russia’s chief financial regulator before he was appointed prime minister, said direct contacts between Russian and Indian businessmen had bright prospects, and that a project to launch a joint trade and economy Web site would accelerate partnership in this area.
He said substantial progress has been made in forming a joint venture to produce titanium dioxide in India’s state of Orissa, which the Indian government plans to turn into a special economic zone, and that the founding documents were now being drawn up.
The Indian-Russian intergovernmental commission for cooperation met in Moscow on Oct 12 and set a target of increasing bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2010, more than twice as much as last year. The Russian premier reiterated Moscow’s commitment to the target.
Singh’s visit to the Russian capital is expected to yield a series of trade and defence agreements, including a deal on broader use of the funds India provides as repayment for its Soviet-era and other debts to Russia.
The two countries are actively involved in energy projects, including the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kudankulam in southern India. The Indian Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is helping develop the Sakhalin-I oil and gas field in Russia. The two countries are working on a gas field in the Bay of Bengal.
Russian and Indian experts are involved in space exploration through a package of cooperation deals relating to Russia’ Glonass satellite navigation system.
In the defence sector, India is Russia’s leading partner. In October, Moscow and New Delhi signed a $1.6 billion worth contract for the supply of 40 Russian Su-30 Flanker fighter assembly sets to India by 2010. The countries have also set up a joint missile manufacturer, BrahMos.
A visit by India’s defence minister in mid-October produced a deal to jointly develop a fifth-generation fighter plane and an agreement on joint production of spare parts for Su-30 Flanker fighters.