The lengthy joint statement that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin issued on Dec. 5 includes a breathtaking series of projects in all fields, with which the two countries plan to use their combined respective strengths to address their problems. It’s the model of a win-win approach. In brief, India needs reliable, increased energy supplies from Russia to support their 1.4 billion population, and the built-up trade imbalance will be addressed by increased Indian exports to Russia, combined with identifying industrial and other high-technology projects that Russia can invest in the “Make in India” policy championed by Modi.
Titled “Russia–India: A Time-Tested Progressive Partnership, Anchored in Trust & Mutual Respect,” it was released on Dec. 5 at the end of their Dec 4-5 deliberations. In it, they “reaffirmed their support for further strengthening of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia,” emphasizing “the special nature of this long standing and time-tested relationship, which is characterized by mutual trust, respect for each other’s core national interests and strategic convergence. They underscored that, as major powers with shared responsibilities, this important relationship continues to be an anchor of global peace and stability that should be ensured upon the basis of equal and indivisible security.”
They “underlined that India-Russia ties have remained resilient in the backdrop of the prevailing complex, challenging and uncertain geopolitical situation.... Development of India-Russia relations across the entire spectrum is a shared foreign policy priority. The Leaders agreed to make all efforts to unlock the full potential of the strategic partnership.”
A centerpiece is the adoption of their “Program 2030” for the “Development of Strategic Areas of India-Russia Economic Cooperation.” Russia will expand energy supplies to India and will invest in advanced production in India, while the two identified a host of exports from India to Russia. The idea is “to expand bilateral trade in a balanced and sustainable manner, including by increasing India’s exports to Russia, strengthening industrial cooperation, forging new technological and investment partnerships, especially in advanced high-technology areas.” A further expansion is planned from “the ongoing intensification of the joint work on a Free Trade Agreement on goods between India and the Eurasian Economic Union....” The goal by 2030 is to surpass $100 billion in bilateral trade.
Of no little importance is their “jointly developing systems of bilateral settlements through use of the national currencies in order to ensure the uninterrupted maintenance of bilateral trade. Additionally, the Sides have agreed to continue their consultations on enabling the interoperability of the national payment systems, financial messaging systems, as well as central bank digital currency platforms.”
