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A very important and far-reaching meeting on the horizon of Indian diplomacy and international politics has attracted the attention of the entire world these days. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday morning on a three-day official visit to attend the BRICS summit. As soon as he stepped into the capital, his visit became the center of discussion in diplomatic circles. In the initial phase of his visit to India, the Russian President held a high-level and comprehensive bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This important meeting between the two top leaders at Hyderabad House or designated diplomatic complexes lasted for about 45 minutes, in which several major strategic decisions were taken to give a new height to the old, deep and evergreen relations between India and Russia in this period of global turmoil. The main and biggest attraction of this meeting was the target of increasing the annual bilateral trade between the two countries to the ambitious figure of 100 billion dollars by the year 2030. The two leaders placed special emphasis on how to make the existing economic partnership more comprehensive, balanced and responsive to future needs. Considering the current global economic scenario, this goal is considered very important for the economic security and development of both the countries, to achieve which a concrete roadmap is already being prepared in key sectors like energy, defence, technology and manufacturing.
In this important bilateral conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin, apart from the traditional pillars like defense and energy, many new areas were also discussed in detail keeping in mind the technological needs of the future. During the meeting, the two leaders had in-depth discussions on ways to further expand the already strong fabric of strategic and defense cooperation. Both sides recognized that in the changing global security environment, defense cooperation between India and Russia is not only essential for the regional security of both countries, but also plays the role of a balancing force in global stability. Apart from this, Prime Minister Modi advocated giving new dimensions to industrial cooperation with Russia. In this direction, issues like modernization of railway sector, mutual cooperation in modern tunneling technology, sustainable development of steel value chain and easy access to the huge Russian market for Indian exporters were discussed in a very positive atmosphere. Amidst the changes in global supply chains, strengthening the penetration of Russian markets for Indian products and services can prove to be a major milestone for India’s export-oriented growth. This shared vision of the two leaders is a testimony to the fact that India and Russia have moved far beyond the traditional relationship of mere buyer and seller and are now moving forward together as co-production, co-development and long-term strategic partners, which has the potential to bring unprecedented benefits to both economies in the coming decades.
Further strengthening of cooperation in the field of defense and industrial initiatives as well as civil nuclear energy was also discussed in detail during the bilateral meeting. Emphasis was laid on furthering mutual understanding between the two countries on fuel cycle and full life cycle support for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It was already clarified by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov that both the countries are seriously considering the development of an advanced and modernized version of the BrahMos missile to further sharpen their strategic capabilities. Along with this, Moscow has reiterated its commitment to timely complete the supply of its remaining S-400 missile defense systems to India, which will make the firepower of the Indian Air Force more invincible. Additionally, preliminary discussions have also progressed at the technical and strategic level between the two countries regarding the proposed supply of state-of-the-art Sukhoi-57 fighter aircraft and future air defense requirements. Relations between Russia and India have always been a strong pillar on the energy diplomacy front. In this context, both sides also discussed future plans to set up new and safe civil nuclear reactors in different parts of the country to meet India’s growing energy needs. This cooperation in the field of energy security will help India ensure long-term and reliable fuel supply, which is essential to sustain the country’s industrialization and economic growth.
Apart from giving impetus to future economic and technological cooperation, the high-level meeting also focused on people-to-people contacts and workforce mobility. The two leaders had positive discussions on further increasing the inflow of skilled Indian workers into various industrial and infrastructure development projects in Russia. The demand for skilled labor in Russia is continuously increasing, and the movement of Indian workforce there will not only meet Russia’s labor requirements but will also create new and lucrative employment opportunities for the youth of India. Apart from this, it was also decided to increase mutual cooperation in exploration, extraction and processing of critical minerals, which are considered very important for future technologies, which will act as the backbone for the manufacturing of electric vehicles, semiconductor and green energy technologies. On the diplomatic front, this meeting has taken place at a time when Prime Minister Modi and President Putin met during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Bishkek last week. During that time, Prime Minister Modi had openly called for an immediate end to the Ukraine conflict and urged the Russian leader to choose the diplomatic path to move towards an end to the war while saving the world from endless war. In the current global scenario, renewed efforts are being made for a peaceful resolution of this conflict through various international means including the administration of US President Donald Trump. In such a situation, this comprehensive conversation between the top leadership of India and Russia not only provides a strong new direction to the bilateral trade and strategic partnership, but it will also prove to be a very visionary and positive step towards global peace, stability and building a multi-polar world order.