Deputy Prime Minister of Russia visits India

Mr. Dmitry Rogozin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, visited India on July 16 and 17, 2012, at the invitation of External Affairs Minister Shri. S. M. Krishna.
This was Mr. Rogozin’s first visit to India as the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mr. Rogozin, who was recently appointed Co-Chairman of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC) for Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation, called on Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Defence Minister Shri. A. K. Anthony and the Commerce & Industry Minister Shri. Anand Sharma.
Mr. Rogozin was accompanied by senior Russian Government officials and representatives of trade and industry.

Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Rogozin and External Affairs Minister Mr. Rogozin and Mr. Krishna participated in an inter-session meeting of the IRIGC to review progress in bilateral cooperation in the trade and industrial spheres, since the 16th session of the IRIGC held in Moscow in November 2011. They also finalised the agenda for the next session of the IRIGC scheduled to be held in New Delhi later in the year.

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India, Russia to redouble efforts to increase trade

Opening Remarks of External Affairs Minister Mr. S. M Krishna at the Media Interaction with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, on July 17, 2012

“Your Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin, Friends from Media, Today, I had the privilege to welcome His Excellency Mr. Dmitry Rogozin, Deputy Prime Minister of Russian Federation. I had very productive discussions with him. We continued a conversation we started in Moscow in April this year.

We are delighted that Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin has been nominated earlier in the year to be my counterpart Co-Chair of our Inter-Governmental Commission. Mr. Rogozin is full of fresh ideas and brings a new energy to our relationship and we value his contributions.

Today’s was an inter-session meeting of the two Co-chairs of the bilateral Commission, where we focused on the economic aspects of our relationship. We also discussed cooperation in some strategic sectors.

We exchanged constructive views on various aspects of India-Russia trade and investment cooperation. We sought definite solutions to certain outstanding problems confronting our business communities and explored ways to enhance our trade turnover.

We agreed to redouble our efforts to achieve the 20 billion US Dollar trade target that we have set for ourselves by 2015. The figures for the first quarter of this calendar year are encouraging, but clearly more needs to be done.
Today we also reviewed progress on some of our new initiatives that we had promised to undertake since the Annual Summit in 2011. They include the joint drive to harness the benefits of modernization and industrial cooperation by pooling in the vast human and scientific resources of the two countries. Both sides have since set up a Joint Working Group on this subject and the first meeting is to take place shortly.

Russia is today the leading force behind the increasingly integrating Eurasian economic space. To forge greater contacts, we have agreed to jointly study a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with the Belarus-Kazakhstan-Russia Customs Union.

In my discussions with Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin, we also outlined the milestones that should be reached prior to the visit of H.E. Mr. Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, to India for the 13th India-Russia Annual Summit, later this year. In that context, we reviewed the progress being made by the various Working Groups in the economic areas reporting to the IGC under its elaborate institutional mechanism.

I have invited H.E. Mr. Rogozin to visit New Delhi later for the full-fledged 18th Session of the IRIGC meeting. We will then have the opportunity to review in detail these important areas of our cooperation and set the future course of our ‘special and privileged’ strategic partnership.

Thank you.”

India, Russia to study economic pact with Belarus, Kazakhstan

India and Russia have jointly agreed to study a comprehensive economic co-operation agreement with Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russia Customs Union. This was indicated by the External Affairs Minister, Mr. S.M Krishna, after a meeting with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Dmitry Regain, in New Delhi on July 17.

Mr. Krishna said co-operation in strategic areas was also discussed. “We exchanged constructive views on various aspects of trade and investment co-operation between India and Russia,” he said. He added that India had sought a solution to outstanding problems confronting businessmen and both agreed to redouble efforts to achieve a $20-billion trade target by 2015. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister said India and Russia were keen on joint production and research and development of projects.

“We are interested in joint production of Russia-India passenger aircraft. Another area where there is potential for co-operation is the helicopter industry,” Mr. Regain said. Space was also area where the two could co-operate, he added.

“In the military field, our objective is to move from direct sales to joint development of military equipment and systems with eventual sales of products and prototypes to third countries,” Mr. Regain said. The Deputy Prime Minister is here ahead of the President, Mr. Vladimir Putin’s visit scheduled for later this year for the 13th India-Russia annual summit.

Hypersonic Brahmos next in India, Russia joint venture

Developing the hypersonic version of the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile will be the focus of the Indo-Russian Joint Venture firm, Brahmos Aerospace. Hypersonic missiles fly at speeds of Mach 5-7 (Mach is speed of sound). At present Brahmos Aerospace has successfully demonstrated the cruise missile, which has a range of 290 km and can carry warheads up to 300 kg. Both the land and sea versions have been tested.

Bilateral Success
Emphasising the need for developing the next versions of Brahmos, especially the hypersonic, Mr Dmitry Rogozin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, said the Joint Venture has been a successful model for cooperation between the two countries. Mr Rogozin along with a high level Defence delegation visited the Brahmos Aerospace facilities and reviewed the progress in the national capital recently. He assured that latest technologies would be shared between the two countries in the future.

Technological Edge
Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD of Brahmos Aerospace, urged the Russian Deputy Prime Minister to induct the Brahmos version into the Russian Defence and also accelerate the hypersonic version to maintain the technological edge over other countries. “The success of the joint venture would be complete when the missile was inducted into both countries’ forces,” he said. The Brahmos Aerospace has an order book of nearly $5 billion. It has bagged orders from the Indian Army and Navy for supply of the Brahmos cruise missile.