Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to be in India early December, much after India’s new prime minister would have held full-spectrum summit meetings with the leaders of the US, Japan, China and many other countries. Is Moscow going down a notch on India’s foreign policy radar under the new dispensation in New Delhi?
This kind of scepticism is voiced in some sections of the media and commentariat, but it would be a gross misreading of the Modi government’s foreign policy priorities. The fact that the Putin visit is happening after Modi’s headline-hogging meetings with world leaders does not mean anything; on the contrary it reflects an enduring trust a comfort factor in the India-Russia relationship which has no parallel. Besides, for those not in the know, the India-Russia annual summit meetings are held normally towards the end of the year.
In fact, Putin’s visit to New Delhi could end up being more substantive and herald a new phase of synergy and acceleration in time-tested ties between the two strategic partners, and will build on the rapport forged during the meeting between Mr Modi and Mr Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil. For Moscow remains pivotal to India’s core national interests, and the shifting geopolitical realities of the second decade of the 21st century is not going to change this plain fact. This centrality of Moscow’s place in India’s foreign policy calculus will be reflected in wide-ranging talks between Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi November 5. The meeting of the rather ponderously named, India-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), which will be co-chaired by the two will focus on firming up deliverables for Putin’s December visit to India.
Mr Rogozin’s trip to India comes at a time when Russia continues to be under Western pressure over its Ukraine policy and is looking East with renewed vigour to bolster partnerships with leading Asian economies, with India and China topping the list. While the details of the agenda remain under wraps, one can safely say the focus will be on firming up a joint economic vision that will bring the economic partnership to the level of strategic partnership the two countries forged more than a decade ago. While military and strategic ties have grown over the years, trade and investment remain an underperforming area, and this will be primary focus of the forthcoming delegation-level talks between Mrs Sushma Swaraj and Mr Rogozin, who is visiting India for the second time after the Modi government took charge in New Delhi over five months ago.
With Prime Minister Modi seeking close partnership from then world, specially New Delhi’s trusted strategic partners, in fructifying his pet ‘Make in India’ initiative, Russia will be looking to unveil some signature investment and joint manufacturing projects.
Currently, India-Russia bilateral trade is estimated to be around 10-12 billion USD, which does not befit two countries which enjoy special and privileged strategic partnership. Compared to that, India-China bilateral trade, despite the festering trade deficit and off-and-on tensions over the boundary dispute, is around $65 billion. India and Russia have set the target of expanding bilateral trade to $20 billion by 2015.
The IRIGC is the principal institutional mechanism that guides multi-pronged economic cooperation between India and Russia. It integrates six working groups on economic and trade cooperation, mines and metallurgy, energy, tourism and culture, science and technology and information technology.
Besides fleshing out steps to ramp up bilateral trade, the two sides are also expected to discuss issues relating to civil nuclear cooperation and civilian space partnerships. Taking a big-picture approach, one can expect the two strategic partners to exchange perspectives on the forthcoming East Asia Summit and the G20 summit of the world’s leading economies.
Author Profile
- Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.
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