Mumbai/New Delhi, Nov 11 (UNI) Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with representatives of the Russian and Indian businesses in Mumbai today.
In his comments at the India-Russia Business Forum, Manturov said that amid the backdrop of the external economic pressure, Russia-India business relations continue to strengthen, and the countries demonstrate their readiness for further cooperation.
“An objective indicator of this is the record volume of trade turnover that we reached last year. And there are all the prerequisites to surpass this achievement this year. At the same time, in addition to the quantitative growth of mutual trade, it is important to diversify its structure. Not just to balance commodity flows, but also to increase the share of high-tech products.
“The conditions for this are formed by two national programmes that are similar in spirit. Bearing in mind the course towards technological sovereignty taken by the Russian Government and the ‘Make in India’ programme. Both of these initiatives are aimed at accelerating the pace of production, developing innovations and removing infrastructure restrictions,” the Russian top official underscored, according to a release from the Russian embassy.
The First Deputy Prime Minister outlined the priority technological areas of Russia’s development. Among them are:
* development of the transport industry, including the introduction of unmanned technologies and the transfer of vehicles to alternative fuels,
* increasing the potential of the nuclear sector, the production of high-power turbines, equipment for solar and wind generation, improving LNG technologies,
* providing the healthcare system with advanced medicines and medical devices, as well as strengthening Russia’s leading positions in the areas of nuclear medicine, production of vaccines and development of the cell engineering segment,
* increasing agricultural productivity, including through genetic and biotechnology, precision farming systems, irrigation and reclamation technologies,
* building up competencies in high-tech means of production and technologies for the transition to a closed-cycle economy, as well as in space services.
The business forum meeting today comes ahead of the 25th Session of the Intergovernmental India-Russia Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation to be held in New Delhi tomorrow.
