Putin’s mantra for achieving $10 billion two-way trade

Russian President Vladimir V Putin today called for stepping up the growth rate in Indo-Russian bilateral trade from the present against 20 per cent to 30 per cent, stating this is essential for reaching the $10 billion annual trade turnover milestone in the next five years. Currently, trade between the two countries is worth $3.8 billion, he pointed out. Putin also stressed on the need to strengthen trade ties in new areas such as information technology, biotechnology and aviation.

Addressing a an interactive session with Indian CEOs in the city, Putin said he favoured investments under the rupee-rouble debt pact in projects in India. More than $2 billion is lying with Russia under the this pact at present. Detailed discussions in this context would open new vistas of cooperation by using the funds available under the agreement, he added.

While the Russian Premier agreed to allow Indian banks to open subsidiaries in Russia, he expressed his limitations towards liberalising visa regime. “After we signed agreement with European Union (EU) on visa issues and are bound to seek permission from the EU for granting flexibility in this regard to any country. We do hope people here would be more realistic on that,” Putin said. Admitting that efforts to increase the volume of trade were deterred by high transportation cost, Putin said these could be sorted out through mutual discussions.