Surpassing the Rs 200,000 crores investment target seven years earlier( 2025 was the target year ) than the set time-frame, India and Russia have now set a new target of achieving 350,000 crores two-way investment by 2025.
For the benefit of the American Administration this means ramping it up from 30 billion dollars to 50 billion dollars.
India and Russia have agreed to hold the first ever Annual Business Summit in early October this year. The summit, to be hosted by India, would involve major companies from both sides chalking out ways and deals to expedite bilateral trade and investment.
India and Russia had originally set a target of Rs 200,000 crores in two-way investment by 2025 but the target has been achieved already this year, around seven years earlier than the set time frame.
“In 2017 annual trade between India and Russia has reached Rs 70000 crores. We discussed ways and means to increase this momentum, ensure balanced trade, and remove barriers to trade. Two-way investments have already crossed theRs 200,000 crores target, which we had set for 2025.
We have therefore proposed that we enhance this figure to Rs 350,000 crores by 2025,” Sushma Swaraj, India’s minister of external affairs, said after the meeting of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific Technical and Cultural Cooperation on Friday.
The commission met in the run-up to the 19th India-Russia Annual Summit, which is expected to be held in India early next month. Both sides are currently working on the preparations for the summit.
India expects bilateral relation will further gain momentum after Russian President Vladimir Putin visits India on October 4, during which he will be discussing major energy and trade-related issues with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the annual summit, the two countries are also expected to sign the contract for S-400 air defence systems, KA-226T multi-role helicopters, frigates and assault rifles that India intends to purchase as part of its armed forces modernisation plan.
Taking the level of co-operation at the next stage, Shushma Swaraj has informed that both countries are considering jointly taking up projects in third countries as well.
“We discussed the possibilities of working together on projects in the third country as a new dimension of our strategic partnership,” Swaraj added.
To boost the two-flow of tourists, both countries are working on further liberalising visa regulations. Recently, the Russian government enabled electronic visas for Indian nationals visiting the Far East in Russia.
The two countries have also started exploring new avenues to boost bilateral trade, which is modest in comparison to the Russia-China trade turnover that is going to breach the Rs 700, 000 crores level soon.
