New Delhi [India], April 17 : Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov on Monday. Officials from the Indian and the Russian sides participated in the meeting.
Denis Manturov, who is also Russia's Minister of Industry and Trade on Monday arrived in New Delhi to co-chair the Intergovernmental Russian-Indian Commission, which is aimed at enhancing trade ties between the two countries.
On the first day of his visit, Manturov co-chaired the 24th India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC). The IRIGC-TEC is the main institutional mechsm supervising economic cooperation.
The IRIGC-TEC integrates six working groups on economic and trade cooperation, modernisation and industrial cooperation, energy, tourism and culture, science and technology, and IT. Russian Deputy PM Manturov and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attended the India-Russia Business Dialogue on Monday.
Denis Manturov said that Russia is looking forward to intensifying negotiations on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India. Addressing the Russia-India Business Dialogue, Manturov said, "Together with Eurasian Economic Commission, we are looking forward to intensifying negotiations on Free Trade Agreement with India.
Manturov said, "Additionally, we are working on signing of Russia-India Bilateral Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments." He said that Russia has taken effective measures, including import preferences and mechsms that guarantee the protection of investments that will be in demand among Russian and Indian businessmen.
Speaking about the challenges faced by Russia, Manturov said that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to logistics disruptions. He pointed out that "one-sided illegitimate sanctions by Western states against Russia provoked systemic problems on the global markets."
"It led to the acceleration of inflation in many countries. Also, it created difficulties for international transport flows, cargo insurance, and the conduction of financial transactions," he said.
He also stated that despite the dramatic scenarios, Russia's GDP last year decreased by merely 2 per cent. He said that inflation did not exceed 12 per cent, and now this indicator stands at 3.2 per cent (year on year). He further said that unemployment is also at the historic minimum of 3.7 per cent.
National Security Adviser (NSA), Ajit Doval on Monday met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues to implement the India-Russia strategic partnership.
On the second day of his visit, a plenary meeting of the IGC will be held, following which the co-chairs will sign the final protocol of the 24th IGC meeting, according to Russian Embassy in India. The two sides plan to discuss bilateral trade, economic and humtarian cooperation. During his visit to India, Manturov will also hold a number of bilateral meetings.
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