Indian trade mission seeks better access to Russia

Friday, 07 November 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Coinciding with the visit of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, a 25-member trade delegation will be in Russia during November 11-13 to promote stronger trade and investment links. Led by Anand Mahindra, president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the mission would "seek to strengthen bilateral trade and investment between the two countries and gain vital access to Russian business, think-tanks, policy makers and the media," the industry lobby said in a statement Friday. The mission is important in the backdrop of the declaration of 'strategic partnership' between India and Russia in 2002 and the renewed impetus to build up the economic relationship between India and Russia, the CII stated. The trade mission will also see the reopening of a CII office in Moscow. According to CII, a whole plethora of opportunities, ideas and initiatives can be exploited and the prime minister's visit will provide an important boost to the bilateral ties. The trade patterns and investment flows between India and Russia have been marked by a decline of over 70 percent between 1992 and 2002. The current bilateral trade figure stands at $1.4 billion annually. "However, the fallout of dwindling trade was not reflected in the political-strategic partnership between India and Russia. It is this very equation, which holds great promise for India and Russia for increasing bilateral trade and investment in future," the CII stated. The main export items from India are tea, readymade garments, drugs and pharmaceuticals, coffee, tobacco, rice and leather goods. Some non-traditional items like electronic goods have been showing growth. Traditional imports from Russia include fertiliser, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, newsprint, synthetic rubber and chemicals. India also imports coal, coke and briquettes from Russia. There has also been strong growth in import of raw cotton, electronic goods and printed books. For promoting bilateral cooperation, Indian industry has already identified areas of mutual interest ranging from IT, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, financial services and hydrocarbons to food processing, management services, textiles and diamond processing.
Source: IANS
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