Indo-Russian Jewellery Summit held in Mumbai

The second edition of the Indo–Russian Jewellery Summit will begin on October 29, 2012 in Mumbai with a goal to  boost trade ties between Indian jewelry manufacturers and their Russian counterparts.

The networking meeting is jointly organized by India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and the Moscow Diamond Bourse. The summit will be represented by 12 key  players comprised of wholesalers and retailers from Russia, who collectively have more than 5,000 outlets across Russia and CIS countries, and 15 members from India’s gems and jewelry industry.

“The successful Indo-Russian Jewellery Summit held last year as well as the Diamond Summit held earlier this year have had a favorable impact on India’s trade relations with Russia,” said Vipul Shah, GJEPC’s chairman. “We hope that this summit will help the representatives of the Indian and Russian companies in getting a better understanding of each other’s markets and forge relations.''

India's gems and jewelry exports grew to $46.36 billion in 2011, up about 83 percent in 2009. Exports to Russia increased to $8.2 million during the period from $3.13 million in 2009, while imports from Russia stood at $639.5 million in 2011 from $125.72 million in 2009. This was driven by a market recovery following the Great Recession coupled with various measures taken by India's government and the council, GJEPC stated.

“These meets have widened the sourcing opportunities for the Russians since the first edition of the jewelry summit held last year,” said Alex Popov, the president of the Moscow Diamond Bourse. “This year too we hope to forge business links which will convert to see a rise in the business transacted between participating members of the two countries.”

The program includes round table discussions and presentations from industry leaders, business meetings, networking events and factory visits.

Indian companies participating in the summit include Gitanjali Gems Ltd., Goldiam International Ltd., Asian Star Jewels, K.P. Sanghvi International, Goldstar Jewellery, Core Jewellery, H.K. Designs, Inter Gold, KBS Designs, Shrenuj, Uni-Design Jewellery, Patdiam Jewellery, Intergold Jewellery and Indi Gold Jewellery.

No Monday blues as colours of Russian folk arts to paint Delhi red

Folk and theatre artistes from Russia performed in the capital city of India, as part of the festival of Russian culture in India. This was the first performance of the festival, which will also travel to Chennai, Mumbai, and Bangalore.

Barynya - russian folk dance group

The show began on 29th October 2012, 7pm onwards at FICCI auditorium, it was  a joint performance by two award-winning groups - folk dance ensemble Barynya, and the State Academic Youth Theatre. Artistes said they  incorporated selected pieces by Russian and international composers, and highlighted the spiritual heritage of the continent, its past and future. The artistic director of Barynya, Tatiana Timokhana, combined choreography, music, and vocal art to create a repertoire that showed the Cossacks' daring maneuvers, love lyrics of temperamental gypsy dances, and slow Russian round dance.

"We are very excited as Indian and Russian culture are so distinct, yet have much in common. This is a fantastic opportunity for us, especially since we can perform in different cities, as we believe we have a lot to share with the Indian audience," said a participant of Monday's performance, echoing the views of the group. The artistes of the joint performance said  the most marvelous one will be the ballet gala.

Complimentary passes for both performances are available Indian Council for Cultural Relations office, which has organized the festival in collaboration with the ministry of culture of the RussianFederation, and Embassy of the Russian Federation. "We will host 65 Russian artisets and delegates for the festival , in response to a similar one held in Russia last year. In 2013 Russia will host a festival of Indian culture as a reciprocal gesture," said Suresh Goel, director general, ICCR. The festival comes soon after the ICCR and Ministry of Russian Federation signed a protocol in the capital earlier this month on October 15.