Russia agrees to give greater market access to Indian goods

Russia has agreed to give greater market access to Indian goods to address India’s concerns over the increasing trade deficit in Moscow’s favour as boosting economic cooperation was the central focus of summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the overarching focus of the summit was to expand and strengthen the economic dimension of the India-Russia partnership to advance towards the shared goal of reaching $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.

He added ‘The India-Russia relationship also remains an anchor for constructive engagement in an increasingly complex geopolitical environment, and both our sides are committed to continue to do our part in addressing the challenges that the current environment poses for both countries. ’ The two sides also reviewed their wide-ranging cooperation in the energy sector, against the backdrop of mounting American pressure on India to stop procurement of Russian crude oil.

Misri said expanding bilateral trade and strengthening economic cooperation requires swiftly addressing non-tariff barriers and regulatory impediments, and added that enhancing Indian exports to Russia in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, marine products and textiles was a key discussion point.

He added ‘Each one of these sectors, in considerable detail, was discussed between the two leaders today, with both of them pointing to the opportunities that existed in these areas and what were the steps that were needed, that could be taken by both sides in order to move towards the mutually shared objective of increasing trade in these areas’. India’s annual procurement of goods and services from Russia amounts to around $65 billion, while Russia’s imports from India stand at around $5 billion.

Regarding volume of India’s procurement of Russian crude oil going down following American sanctions on two Russian oil giants, he said ‘We have been fairly clear in terms of communicating that as a significant importer of energy, our priority is to ensure that 1.4 billion people in India have their energy needs secured’.

He added ‘Our energy sourcing policies are guided entirely by this imperative. Ensuring stable energy prices and securing supplies are the twin goals of our sourcing policy. And part of this, therefore, goes into the area of diversifying energy supplies. Our partners, traditional as well as new, understand this and appreciate this’.

In the talks, both sides noted the current and potential cooperation between Indian and Russian companies in fields of oil and oil products, oil refining and petrochemical technologies, oilfield services and upstream technologies, and related infrastructure. The discussions also touched upon cooperation in LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) and LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) related infrastructure and underground coal gasification (UCG) technology. They agreed to continue jointly developing systems of bilateral trade settlements through the use of national currencies. India and Russia welcomed steps to ensure the long-term supply of fertilizers to India and discussed the potential establishment of joint ventures in this area.