India, Russia to boost bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030

• India and Russia agreed to increase bilateral trade to $100 billion dollars by 2030

Highlights:

• A joint vision statement on trade and economic cooperation by the end of the decade looked at nine issues
  • elimination of non-tariff barriers
  • the development of a “bilateral settlement system using national currencies
  • ironing out customs procedures and using new connectivity routes (Chennai-Vladivostok maritime route and Northern Sea Route and the International North–South Transport Corridor via Iran)
  • investments in the energy sector including nuclear energy
  • infrastructure development
  • investment promotion
• In addition, India and Russia signed a number of MoUs between institutions on climate change, polar research, legal arbitration and pharmaceutical certification and other issues.
• Trade between India & Russia stands at around $65 billion, mostly because of the surge in India’s imports of Russian crude at discount after the invasion of Ukraine led to the oil sanctions by the U.S. and Europe.
• Achieving the target would catapult the business relationship to levels of trade India currently has only with bigger economies such as the U.S., China and the European Union.
• The focus on economic issues was a shift from previous Annual Summits where military supplies and the defence and strategic partnership between the two countries had been at the top of the agenda.

Prelims Takeaway

• India - Russia