India, Russia trade exceeds target of $30 billion before 2025, may increase, says Jaishankar

New Delhi: India and Russia exceeded their bilateral trade goal of USD 30 billion by 2025, according to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who also predicted that the trade will continue to grow.

“We have crossed the bilateral trade target of USD 30 billion before the year 2025 which was the target year given to us by our leaderships. And in fact for the period April 2022 – February 2023, I understand that the trade is actually about USD 45 billion and the expectation is that this will continue to grow,” S Jaishankar said while addressing the India-Russia Business Dialogue in Delhi on Monday.

According to Jaishankar, business motivation on both sides must come from India and Russia. They are committed, he continued, to turning India into a “global manufacturing hub”.

“We need to motivate business on both sides. You can see that there are big changes going on like Make in India. We are determined to make India a global manufacturing hub. I want to emphasise the opportunity of Make in India and Russia as Russia is known for its technological strength,” Jaishankar said.

While discussing the relationship between India and Russia, Jaishankar noted that the two countries have a long history of inter-ethnic contact. He also discussed the potential for increased trade in the travel and tourist sector between the two countries.

In his remarks at the India-Russia Business Dialogue, Jaishankar said, “Our two countries historically have also had a strong people-to-people connection. But, I must point out that we actually get less than 1 per cent of Russia’s outbound tourism. So, now when we are talking today of exploring new areas and new opportunities, I would also flag that whether more direct flights to more destinations will provide a possibility for greater business when it comes to tourism.”

The connections between India and Russia have not changed, EAM Jaishankar underscored.

“Our partnership today is a subject of attention and comment, not because it has changed, but because it has not. Indeed, it has been among the steadiest of the major relationships of the world in the contemporary era. But that by itself is not enough,” he remarked.

According to Jaishankar, Russia is turning its attention more towards Asia, which for India implies expanding the scope of their previous military, nuclear, and supply space cooperation.

“We share a commitment to a multipolar world and that also means a multipolar Asia. Russia is today looking much more towards Asia, a reassessment from its traditional focus. For India, this could mean a broadening out of our engagement that was overly reliant on the triad of military, nuclear and supply space cooperation,” Jaishankar said.

“For Russia also it presents a broader set of options as Russia looks eastwards, its resources and technology complementarity can be a powerful contribution to India’s growth. And this is a growth of a 3.5 trillion economy that is expected to grow at more than 7 per cent for at least a decade or more. And I would say that our ties, our cooperation are best advanced through more intensive bilateral engagement,” he added.

In his address at the India-Russia Business Dialogue, he said, “We are discussing the importance of connectivity and the north-south and maritime corridors have been considered. There is also discussion on payment issues like International trade settlement in the Indian Rupee.”

According to EAM Jaishankar, the trade deficit is a source of concern. He emphasised the urgent necessity for cooperation with Russia to overcome the trade deficit. He asserted that solving the problem entails solving the barriers, whether they be non-tariff barriers, payment and logistics barriers, or barriers to market access.

“There is also understandable concern about the trade imbalance which these new volumes have created. And we need to work together with our Russian friends on a very urgent basis of how to address that imbalance. And addressing that imbalance really means addressing the impediments, whether they are market access impediments, whether they are non-tariff barriers, whether they are related to payments or to logistics,” Jaishankar said.
“I really cannot emphasize this enough. I think we should also, in a business gathering be honest about the short and medium-term challenges that we face. And there could be, quite frankly, there could be over compliance there could be over anxiety or even over caution on our side and equally on the Russian side there could be an inadequate appreciation of the concerns and the risks that Indian businesses face. So I would say what really the future of our economic cooperation requires is the willingness, the ability to really look at it from the point of view of the other party and then come up with solutions which will overcome the obstacles,” he added.

(With agency inputs)

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