Russia and India intend to increase coordination, including in the United Nations, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the G20, as well as in the fight against terrorism, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
"We agreed to increase cooperation in multi-sided venues, in particular, in the UN, in BRICS, SCO, and the G20. We will closely coordinate our work to strengthen security and cooperation in Asia, jointly fight such modern challenges and threats as international terrorism, drug trafficking, cross-border crime," Putin said after talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Talking about trade relations, President Putin said trade between Russia and India increased by 20 per cent in the first seven months of 2018 and continues to grow after surging 21 per cent to over $9 billion last year.
At one point, we set a task of increasing annual trade to $30 billion by 2025, and the volume of mutual investments to $15 billion. In this context, we noted with satisfaction that last year mutual trade grew by 21 per cent, exceeding 9 billion. In the first seven months of this year, it was up another 20 per cent (year-on-year). If we move at such a pace, we will not only fulfil, but exceed [the set target], and we will reach our targets ahead of time and move on," President Putin.
President Putin added that Russia was ready to consider cooperation with India in a number of energy projects, including Far East LNG and Arctic LNG 2, as well as projects on natural resources development in Russia's Siberia, Yamal and continental shelf.
"We welcome the interest of Indian energy companies in expanding their business in Russia. We are ready to consider the possibility of cooperation within the framework of such projects as Far East LNG, Arctic LNG 2, as well as other projects for development of natural resources of Siberia, Yamal and the continental shelf in the Russian Federation," President Putin said.
The Russian President was on an official visit to India. During his visit, numerous joint agreements were signed. In late September, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov held a meeting with Indian Ambassador to Moscow Venkatesh Varma and discussed the state of bilateral relations.
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