Prime Minister speaks with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

 August 28, 2023

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had a telephone conversation today with the President of the Russian Federation, H.E Mr. Vladimir Putin.

The two leaders reviewed progress on number of issues of bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern, including the recently concluded BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.

President Putin conveyed his inability to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi on 9-10 September 2023 and informed that Russia would be represented by Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Sergey Lavrov.

While expressing an understanding for Russia’s decision, PM thanked President Putin for Russia’s consistent support to all initiatives under India’s G20 Presidency.

The two leaders agreed to remain in touch.

 Meeting of National Security Advisor, Shri Ajit Doval with National Security Advisor of USA, H.E. Mr. Jake Sullivan

 June 13, 2023

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is on an official visit to New Delhi from 13-14 June, 2023 at the invitation of Shri Ajit Doval, KC, National Security Adviser of India. He is accompanied by a delegation of senior US government officials and leaders of US industry. The two NSAs have engaged regularly in extensive discussions on a broad bilateral, regional and global agenda. The current visit, which comes in the run-up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the US, will give them the opportunity to continue their high-level dialogue, which will include a review of the robust and multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries as well as a survey of the India-US global strategic partnership.

Following the launch of the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) by Prime Minister Modi and President Joseph Biden on the side lines of the QUAD Summit in Tokyo on 24 May 2022, the two NSAs have also driven a concerted effort between the two countries to engage on the identified areas of collaboration, including Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Semiconductors, Telecommunications, Defence and Space. The current visit by Mr Sullivan will thus provide an opportunity to the two NSAs to review the progress thus far and set new priorities and objectives for iCET.

Earlier today, the two National Security Advisers met for restricted discussions on regional and global issues of mutual interest. Later in the evening, they attended the second Track 1.5 dialogue on iCET organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry. The first edition of this dialogue had been organised by the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. on 30 January 2023. The NSAs addressed the participants at the dialogue, which included leading representatives of academia and industry from both the countries. They expressed satisfaction at the progress made under iCET and encouraged stakeholders on both sides to strive for technology value chain partnerships that would lead to co-development and co-production of high technology products and services in both countries.

During the visit, NSA Sullivan will also meet with External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and other dignitaries of the Government of India.

New Delhi

June 13, 2023

 Russia-Pakistan dosti zindabad (long live Russia-Pakistan friendship)    -Sergey Lavrov 

Monumental failure of Indian foreign policy.

Who is responsible?

   India Russia trade

"Finally, as a Foreign Minister, let me try to place the economic cooperation in a strategic context. Our partnership today is a subject of attention and comment, not because it has changed, but because it has not." - S Jaishankar

 India Russia trade 

"There is also obviously discussions on the payments issue. The expansion of the correspondent relationship network, under the scheme of International Trade Settlement in Indian Rupees through Special Rupee Vostro Account system. And I think the payments issue clearly needs to be worked through between our systems. It is something we will also be discussing at the meeting tomorrow." - S Jaishankar

  India Russia trade

"Now, 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 infact, 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

 India Russia trade 

"Now the enabler, of course, is our time-tested and long-standing friendship, and we actually capture it in the term Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between our two countries."- S Jaishankar

 

   Remarks by External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar at the "India-Russia Business Dialogue"

Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, Mr. Rajyavardhan Kanoria Mr. Sergey Cheremin, Our Ambassadors, both of them, 

Dear colleagues, 

Let me begin by saying that it gives me great pleasure to address this inaugural session of "India-Russia Business Dialogue" 2023. This is an outcome of a partnership between FICCI and the Ministry of External Affairs with the Business Council for Cooperation with India (BCCI). So, I commend the efforts of all those who have made this event possible. 

Friends, 

Let me begin really by appreciating the fact that my distinguished counterpart, Mr. Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister is here today leading a large Russia delegation. I will be meeting him tomorrow in my capacity as the Co-Chair of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC). And, in fact, in the last year, the two of us; and I visited Moscow in November 2022 and I interacted with him virtually just a month ago, we have really prepared the ground for tomorrow’s meeting and as he himself stated, we will be looking at many policy and process issues designed to expand our cooperation. And I would suggest that perhaps, at the conclusion of your meeting today, if there are some key concerns which the Business has expressed; and I heard, for example < > mentioning some of them, and other colleagues did as well, I think it would be very useful for us to consider what the business feels are problems for business, and we will certainly factor that in, tomorrow in our calculations. 

Now Friends, 

I begin by emphasizing that business has a key role in driving the growth and sustainability of any relationship. And that is precisely the reason why we are meeting here today. Now the enabler, of course, is our time-tested and long-standing friendship, and we actually capture it in the term Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between our two countries. 

In the last decade, we have seen enhanced levels of cooperation in many areas. And these include the fields of energy, science & technology, inter-regional cooperation. And they supplement what were the traditional areas of defence, of nuclear and of space. 

Recently, we have also been discussing how to expand and diversify our bilateral trade and economic cooperation. And I have myself, for almost a decade now, been personally involved in these efforts. And I believe that today, these are yielding results. 

Now, 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 infact, 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. At the same time, I think am not the first speaker, Mr. Kanoria actually began by mentioning this, that 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 on 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. And 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 you know, there could be quite frankly, there could be over-compliance, they 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 the 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. Now the possibilities, I think, are both in, you know, I would say, gaps which may have emerged in recent months but also new areas. And I completely agree that I think today payments, logistics, certifications-these are really the key areas. And I am convinced that it is possible to really find solutions, because if you look even in the last year, and this is something which the deputy PM himself is personally involved, we found ways, for example, of looking at, the fertilizer trade, in a much more mutually acceptable way. So, I think if we can look at an area like fertilizer, surely you know, the same spirit of cooperation and mutuality, we can look at other areas and look to find solutions. 

Now, in terms of how do we diversify and expand the basket of goods, I think clearly we need to motivate business on both sides. So, I am glad we had a motivational speaker also. Apart from the traditional exports of pharmaceuticals and organic chemicals, clearly there are possibilities in auto and spare parts, electronics goods and components, medical devices for which there was a speaker; on high efficiency solar PV modules, textile & apparel, white goods, leather, ceramics, but also I would emphasize food and agricultural products; because this is one area where SPS restrictions have been really going on, frankly, I personally remember now, for almost the last 9 years. 

Where India is concerned, I would like our Russian friends to appreciate that you can see there are big changes which are going on. There is a "Make in India" initiative which is aimed at promoting greater manufacturing capacities. And we are determined to make India a major global manufacturing hub. There will be greater production based in India. And not just for our own growth, but also because we believe that in times of global instability, that the world economy requires more resilient and reliable set of supply chains. Infact, one of the big lessons of Covid is how do we de-risk the global economy by having many more production options. And it is clearly our strategy today to position ourselves as a major manufacturer, as a bigger trader, as a stronger service provider. And I think it should be of interest definitely to our Russian friends. 

I also want to specially emphasize the opportunities for joint projects in the "Make in India – Make for the World” format. And Russia is known for its technology strengths; and India today is focussing on production scaling and product distribution. So, even our traditional areas infact could benefit from this, but clearly there are third country market implications here, which our companies should be looking at. 

Let me also talk a little bit about the enabling environment. We have been having discussions for a Free Trade Agreement between India and the Eurasian Economic Union. The Covid interrupted those discussions, so I would very much hope that our colleagues will pick up on this. We will certainly encourage them from the Foreign Ministry side. Because we do believe that they will make a real difference to our trade relationship. We also are in advanced negotiations on a new Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), and we appreciate that this is perhaps necessary; certainly useful to provide sufficient confidence to investors. 

Now, there has been some talk, rightly, in my opinion, about the importance of connectivity initiatives. The International North South Transport Corridor as well as the Eastern Maritime Corridor, which is the Chennai-Vladivostok Corridor, and these are being given due consideration. I think there have been a number of events in the last few years, including the blockage of the Suez Canal which underline why it is necessary for us to have many more connectivity options. Not all obstacles are necessarily logistical; but I think everybody would agree that to the extent we can address this. And certainly the Eastern Maritime Corridor, I think, fits in with our goal, what is called "Act East Policy", as well as the Russian policy of having the Far East come in as a additional driver of the economy. So, I think there is a synergy there which is waiting to be tapped. 

There is also obviously discussions on the payments issue. The expansion of the correspondent relationship network, under the scheme of International Trade Settlement in Indian Rupees through Special Rupee Vostro Account system. And I think the payments issue clearly needs to be worked through between our systems. It is something we will also be discussing at the meeting tomorrow. 

Now, in the last 9 years, the Modi Government, again I say this particularly for the benefit of our Russian colleagues, that the Modi Government has undertaken a number of important economic reforms. And these are actually of interest to you, if you are looking and evaluating opportunities in India, because they do include incentivizing production, in doubling down on infrastructure and logistics, in rationalizing taxation, in moving the economy from the more informal to the organized sector, and in cleaning up and resourcing the financial system. We would like our friends in Russia to appreciate this transformation which is underway, because its compounding strength will enable both of us to strengthen each other's strategic autonomy, if we can translate this into economic cooperation. 

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 percent of Russia’s outbound tourism. 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. 

Finally, as a Foreign Minister, let me try to place the economic cooperation in a strategic context. 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. We share a commitment to a multi-polar world. And that also means a multi-polar 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 space cooperation. For Russia also, it presents a broader set of options. As Russia looks eastwards, its resource 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% for at least a decade or more. And I would say that our ties, our cooperation is best advanced through more intensive bilateral engagement such as the one that we are having today. 

I have already spoken of the implications of new connectivity and the role of industry collaboration. So, I conclude by saying that what we make of the current situation depends very much on us which is why today’s gathering is particularly important. 

Thank you once again for your attention.

 

1st India-Australia Annual Summit :

 Joint Statement (March 10, 2023)

No Russia, No War, No Aggression

"The Prime Ministers expressed concern about the conflict and humanitarian situation in Ukraine, reiterating the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution to the conflict. They reiterated that the conflict was causing immense human suffering, exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economic system."

 Dr. S. Jaishankar

@DrSJaishankar

India government official

"Pleased to co-chair a virtual meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural cooperation with DPM Denis Manturov. 

Noted the expansion of trade and discussed trade deficit and market access issue"

 India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission 

on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC)

 Virtual Review Meeting

 March 06, 2023

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar held a virtual meeting with H.E. Mr. Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Minister of Trade and Industry, and Co-chair of the India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC).

2.​ The Co-chairs reviewed the progress achieved in the various Working Group and Sub-Group Meetings under the IRIGC-TEC framework since their meeting in Moscow in November 2022 and gave guidance to prepare ground for the next in person meeting of IRIGC-TEC which will be held in New Delhi at mutually convenient dates. The two sides agreed to work together to unlock the full potential of India-Russia bilateral trade and economic relations including through addressing the trade deficit and market access issues.

3.​The Inter-governmental Commission is a mechanism for regularly monitoring bilateral progress across the sectors of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries which was set up by an Agreement on inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation signed in May 1992. The first session of IRIGC was held on 13 and 14 September 1994. So far, 23 IRIGC meetings have been held. 23rd Session of IRIGC was held on 14 September 2018 in Moscow. The 24th IRIGC-TEC meeting will be hosted by India and today’s review meeting will pave the way for the same.

 ECFR world survey wrt Ukraine conflict:-

 Indians are more Russian than Russians!

Reason?

1- Russia/China propaganda- NO

2-  Skepticism of West- Somewhat 

3- US/Europe deep state/commentator criticism of India and PM Narendra Modi - To some extent

4- Love for Russia- YES, Love+ Empathy

 "Import from Russia is in national interest. It will continue"

- Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister 

 

"NSA Shri Ajit Doval also called on the President of the Russian Federation, His Excellency Vladimir Putin and had wide-ranging discussions on bilateral and regional issues. It was agreed to continue work towards implementing the India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership."

MEA Press Release 

 

Visit of NSA to Moscow (07-09 February 2023)

MEA Press Release

NSA Shri Ajit Doval visited Moscow from 07-09 February 2023. He participated at the 5th Multilateral Meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils/National Security Advisers on Afghanistan on 08 February 2023. Apart from the host country, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan were represented at this meeting. Issues discussed included the security and humanitarian challenges facing Afghanistan.

In his remarks, NSA stressed the need to ensure that the territory of Afghanistan does not become a source of radicalization and terrorism, regionally or globally, as well as to intensify intelligence and security cooperation to deal with terror outfits, including those designated under the UNSCR 1267. He also pointed out that the well-being and humanitarian needs of the Afghan people is India’s foremost priority. 

NSA Shri Ajit Doval also called on the President of the Russian Federation, His Excellency Vladimir Putin and had wide-ranging discussions on bilateral and regional issues. It was agreed to continue work towards implementing the India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership. 

On 09 February 2023, NSA Shri Ajit Doval held a bilateral dialogue with Secretary of the Russian Security Council, His Excellency Nikolai Patrushev and discussed issues, including bilateral relations, regional and international developments. He also met with Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Minister of Trade and Industry, His Excellency Denis Manturov and discussed issues pertaining to bilateral defence and economic cooperation. 

Moscow
February 09, 2023

 Kanwal Sibal (Former Indian Foreign Secretary)

"This is very significant. Putin has never met our NSAs before. He does not meet our EAMs either except as far as I know when I organised Natwar Singh to call on him while I was ambassador. Clearly, NSA carried an important message from Modi."

 Unprecedented! and Big deal!!

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin gave an audience to Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser of India.

"India in Russia" twitted- "NSA Ajit Doval called on HE President Putin. Wide-ranging discussion on bilateral and regional issues. Agreed to continue work towards implementing the India-Russia strategic partnership."

Perhaps Doval delivered a personal message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Message of support and solidarity?

 India can not afford to lose Russia. it would be geo-strategic hara-kiri.

Crux of India's Ukraine-Russia policy.

 foreign Minister S Jaishankar explains "Hindu Diplomacy"

"Strategic Deception"

"strategic Patience"

"Strategic Neutrality"

All three elements are visible in India's Ukraine policy