India and Russia are discussing a free trade agreement, ministers said yesterday, a move that would further deepen bilateral commercial ties that have flourished since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told an event in New Delhi that his government was in “advance agreement” on a trade treaty that Russian Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov said would bring a guarantee of bilateral investment.
India has not explicitly criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — which Moscow describes as a “special military operation” — and has called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Russia, a traditional defense equipment supplier, also displaced Iraq last month to become India’s top supplier of crude oil. Overall Indian imports from Russia increased almost fourfold to US$46.33 billion in the year to March 31.
Moscow was looking to increase machinery imports from India to improve the trade balance, Manturov said.
“We need to find a niche in the products which India can replace,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the event. “In civilian projects, we need as wide cooperation as it was before the sanctions.”
Reuters reported in November last year that Russia was potentially seeking to import more than 500 products from India for key sectors including automobiles, aircraft and trains, as Western sanctions undermine Moscow’s ability to keep core industries operating.
India also aims to narrow its growing trade deficit with Russia, which has been India’s largest supplier of military equipment for decades and is the fourth-biggest market for Indian pharmaceuticals.
Jaishankar said that Indian business could benefit from Russian technology and that New Delhi was working to iron out payments, certification and logistics issues.
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