The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Kamal Nath said that India and Russia are now looking beyond the traditional trade and focussing on new areas like auto-components, information technology, agro and food processing, telecom, bio-technology and management education to achieve US $ 10 billion bilateral trade by 2010, a five-fold jump from the present US $ 2 billion.
“A decline in traditional items of Indian export to Russia like tea, tobacco, readymade garments etc. require attention if we are to leapfrog in bridging the deficiencies in our trade”, Shri Kamal Nath said while adding that the services sector is another field where the two countries can cooperate profitably, especially healthcare, financial services, IT and ITES.
He was speaking at the Business Dinner Meeting with the visiting Prime Minister of Russia, Mr Mikhail Fradkov, organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ASSOCHAM), here.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Kamal Nath said that small businesses are vital aspects of India's growth story, and therefore, greater interaction between small and medium enterprises of India and Russia needs special attention.
Procurement of rough diamonds from Russia for our diamond cutting and polishing industry is an area to which we look forward, he remarked The Minister noted that the language barrier is a constraint in increasing bilateral trade and urged upon the Indian industry to initiate incentives for learning Russian language.
“The Focus-CIS programme of the government opens several possibilities and our industry should use Russia as the gateway to the CIS. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation was signed last month between India and Russia that mandates setting up of a Joint Study Group (JSG) to prepare an action plan within this year for achieving the desired increase in bilateral trade”, Shri Nath stated.
Press Information Bureau Government of India
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