Ministers discuss Indian-Russian trade

Indian and Russian ministers have discussed a host of bilateral issues including the  Bilateral Investment Treaty between the two countries and the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Eurasian Economic Union.

“We agreed that there is enormous potential to enhance the bilateral trade which is presently US$6.62 billion,” said #Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Joint Press Conference held with visiting Russian #Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov.

“We discussed the #International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) that would cut the time and cost for transportation of goods between both countries. We also deliberated upon other measures to enhance the trade ties, including the proposed #FTA between India and the Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

“Both countries also noted the need to finalise a revised #Bilateral Investment Treaty,” she added at the three-day #International Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS) which began on 16 March 2017.

Sitharaman said the #Department of Commerce is engaged in a key initiative, with the support of EEPC, for technology upgrade of engineering manufacturers for boosting exports.

“This is being attempted by bridging the gap between leading R&D Labs and industry for the development of cutting edge export-oriented technologies.

“We have identified important industrial clusters, where we are interacting with stakeholders and identifying technology gaps which can be filled by our research labs/academic institutions.

The cutting-edge technology would then be shared with the industry to enable them to match the best products in the world,” she said.

India’s engineering exports are likely to reach US$60+ billion in fiscal 2016-17, on the back of revival of demand in the US.

For the April-January period of 10 months of the current fiscal, the engineering exports have touched US$50.87 billion, up on the total shipments of US$49 billion in the entire financial year of 2015-16.

For January, 2017 engineering exports aggregated US$5.29 billion, an increase of over 12% over the same month last fiscal.

Over 400 exhibitors from India and abroad, and 500 foreign delegates are at the IESS VI. A 120-member delegation is at the show, “Smart Tech for Smart Engineering”. fii-news.com