India and Russia today set a target to increase the bilateral trade to $15 billion by 2012, diversifying the trade basket.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma who is visiting Russia said the two countries need to diversify the bilateral trade and move away from "just commodity" trading to high level investments in sectors like pharmaceuticals, energy, information technology and agro processing.
The two countries agreed that the bilateral trade needs to have an ambitious agenda and set a target of USD 15 billion by 2012, an official statement said.
The two-way trade between the countries was estimated at USD 7 billion in 2008.
During his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin, Sharma reaffirmed India's commitment to consolidate the strategic partnership with Russia.
Sharma also had meetings with Russian Minister for Economic Development E Nabiullina and Industry and Trade Minister V Khristenko.
The two sides agreed to intensify cooperation in defence and high technology sectors and move towards an engagement based on partnership.
Khristenko indicated that he would visit India by December 2009, the statement said.
