Russian President Vladimir Putin started an official two-day visit to the Indian capital of New Delhi on Thursday, marking strong ties between Russia and India, officially established in 1947.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th October, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin started an official two-day visit to the Indian capital of New Delhi on Thursday, marking strong ties between Russia and India, officially established in 1947.
As diplomatic relations were initially established between the Soviet Union and India, the countries had to update their contractual-legal base after 1991, with both countries signing over 200 bilateral documents. The 1993 Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between Russia and India is a founding document for their bilateral ties.
In October 2000, Putin paid a state visit to India, with both parties having signed the Declaration on Strategic Partnership.
The Russian-Indian ties are defined by intensive political contacts. The parties constantly discuss key areas of bilateral cooperation, as well as international and regional issues at annual summits and top-level talks.
Russia and India take turns hosting bilateral summits. Moscow hosted an annual summit on December 23-24, 2015, during which Putin held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As a result, the parties signed a package of documents stipulating multifaceted cooperation. Putin and Modi also met with representatives of Russian and Indian business communities.
In 2016, the Russian-Indian summit coincided with the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in Goa and was held on October 15.
Following the consultations, the sides signed a package of documents on cooperation in various fields. Putin and Modi adopted a joint statement, titled "the Partnership for Global Peace and Stability."
In 2017, the 18th Russian-Indian summit was held on June 1 on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Following the summit, a package of cooperation documents was signed, in particular, an agreement on scientific and industrial research, a framework agreement on the construction of two units of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), as well as a program of cultural exchanges.
Putin and Modi adopted the St. Petersburg Declaration on boosting the cooperation in political, trade and economic, scientific and technical, as well as humanitarian areas.
The two leaders meet regularly on the sidelines of multilateral forums. On July 7, 2017, an informal meeting of the heads of state and government of the BRICS countries was held before the G20 summit in Hamburg.
On September 4, 2017, Putin and Modi held a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Xiamen, China.
On May 21, 2018, the high-level officials of Russia and India held an informal summit in Sochi. The sides discussed the development of the Russian-Indian partnership, topical international and regional issues.
Another meeting between Putin and Modi took place on July 26, 2018 on the margins of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
On May 7-11, 2015, then Indian President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee visited Moscow at the invitation of Putin and attended celebrations of the 70th Victory Day's anniversary. The former president also took part in various cultural events in Moscow.
Both countries are developing contacts between their Foreign Ministries, Security Councils and other agencies. Russia and India prioritize expanded bilateral trade and economic cooperation. The bilateral Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation is a key mechanism of bilateral cooperation. The commission's regular 24th meeting was held in September 2018 in Moscow.
According to the Russian Federal Customs Service, the turnover between Russia and India amounted to $9.3 billion in 2017, including $6.4 billion in Russian exports and $2.9 billion in Russian imports.
Russian-Indian trade in January-July, 2018 totaled about $6 billion, including Russian exports ($4.2 billion) and imports ($1.8 billion).
Russia primarily exports mineral products, machinery, equipment and transport, precious metals and stones, as well as wood and paper products, among others.
India provides Russia with chemical industry products, food and agricultural products, as well as textiles and footwear.
Russia is an important partner for India in implementing civilian nuclear energy projects. Under the 1988 inter-governmental agreement, Russia is building the Kudankulam NPP in the Indian southern state of Tamil Nadu. This construction project was commissioned by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).
The station's first reactor was put on stream in 2013 and became part of the Indian power grid. The station's second reactor was launched in August, 2016.
In October 2016, Putin and Modi launched the construction of the second stage of NPP via videoconference. Currently the Russian side is working on construction of the plants units 3 and 4.
Russia and India also cooperate on the oil and gas projects. Since 2001, India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has been involved in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project through its ONGC Videsh (OVL) subsidiary and owns a 20 percent stake in the project. In May 2014, Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft and OVL signed a memorandum of understanding that stipulates cooperation on Russia's continental Arctic shelf.
In 2016, Indian companies became shareholders of Vankorneft, controlled by Rosneft, developing the Vankor oil and gas condensate field in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In spring of 2016, the Indian ONGC bought 15 percent of the shares in Vankorneft and subsequently increased its share to 26 percent in October of that year.
In early October 2016, Rosneft and a consortium of Indian companies consisting of Oil India Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat PetroResources Limited closed a deal to sell 23.9 percent of the shares in Vankorneft to Indian companies. The total share of Indian state-owned companies in Vankorneft stands at 49.9 percent.
In early October 2012, Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore, a subsidiary of Russia's gas giant Gazprom, signed a legally binding 20-year contract for the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India's GAIL. Under the deal, GAIL will annually receive 2.5 million metric tons of LNG, an equivalent of 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas, for a period of 20 years. The first LNG batches were delivered to India in March 2018.
In August 2017, Rosneft clinched a strategic deal on acquisition of 49.13 percent of shares in the Indian Essar Oil Limited at a price of $3.9 billion. The Russian company received a share in Vadinar refinery, one of the biggest refineries with an integrated infrastructure in India and the Asia-Pacific region. The Essar Oil Limited business also includes a large network of petrol stations in India operating under the Essar brand.
Bilateral science and technological cooperation is also gradually developing. In 1987, the USSR and India signed their first comprehensive long-term program of science and technological cooperation. In 2000, the program was extended to December 2010. A new comprehensive long-term program of cooperation until 2020 in the area of science, technology and innovations was signed during the New Delhi summit in December 2010.
Russia has been India's longtime partner in defense. To date, both countries are implementing several projects and are developing the BrahMos multipurpose missile system and the Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA). India is also mastering a batch production of Su-30 Flanker-C fighters and T-90 tanks under a Russian license.
Today, the Indian Navy is equipped with Russian products by 80 percent, the Air Force - by 70 percent. The long-term program of military-technical cooperation for 2011-2020, as well as over 20 inter-governmental agreements, remains a pillar of cooperation in this area. The value of the contract portfolio is over $35 billion.
Russia has supplied military equipment worth over $65 billion to India since 1960, when the bilateral military-technical cooperation was launched.
Russia is training Indian military specialists in the universities of the Defense Ministry. Russia and India also hold annual military exercises. Relations between Moscow and New Delhi stipulate a mechanism of bilateral consultations on the issues of regional and global security and military reforms.
The countries have established the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC), headed by national defense ministers, for coordinating the process of military-technical cooperation.
The bilateral cooperation in the field of tourism is burgeoning. Year 2018 is designated as the Russian-Indian Year of Tourism. Over the past seven years, the number of tourists from Russia to India has almost doubled. According to the Indian Ministry of Tourism, the amount of Russian tourists who visited India in 2017 equaled 385,700 people, while in 2016 the number stood at 228,200.
