CII organized a Russia Committee Meeting on 18th December 2009 in New Delhi. Government of India was represented by Joint Secretary (Eurasia Division) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Ajay Bisaria and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, Ambassador Amrendra Khatua.

CII invited OIA Chairman, Amb. V. B. Soni to Chair the Session which was attended by a strong contingent from the Russian Embassy headed by Deputy Chief of Mission Mr. Andrei A. Sorokin and Trade representative etc. Another 25 leading Indian businessmen active in Russia in the field of oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, textiles, IT, transportation and TATAs etc. were also present in the meeting.

This 3 hour Session was deftly managed by Amb. Soni which turned out to be productive and informative. We bring you excerpts from Amb. Soni's key-note address:

The second session of the CII Russian Committee was held in New Delhi on December 18, 2009. Chairman OIA Ambassador V.B. Soni was requested to do the honour of chairing the session. Government of India was represented by Joint Secretary (Eurasia Division) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Ajay Bisaria and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, Ambassador Amrendra Khatua. From the Russian Embassy there was a big delegation headed by Deputy Chief of Mission Mr. Andrei A. Sorokin and Trade representative etc. Altogether about 25 leading Indian businessmen active in Russia in the field of oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, textiles, IT, transportation and TATAs etc were present.

Welcoming the participants Ambassador Soni traced India-Russia bilateral relations from the times of the former Soviet Union when the two countries enjoyed special relationship because of strategic reasons. There was active collaboration in the fields of defence and science and technology. After independence it was the USSR who helped building India 's infrastructure like power, steel, dams, railways, ports, bridges, telecommunications etc. and passed on technology in these sectors which helped in indigenization process.

In the post Soviet period since 1990s, Mr Soni observed the relations lost a bit of momentum. The volume of trade has stagnated at USD 4.5 billion. On the other hand with China it has crossed USD 60 billion mark despite the political relations being cold. There is work to be done from both sides to increase it to its maximum potential.

Ambassador Soni said that the recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh to Russia was a path breaking one. Some crucial agreements were signed for increased co-operation in the vital nuclear sector where Russia would help set up facilities to bridge India 's burgeoning energy requirement. The constraints of the past having been removed the Russian side has offered nuclear technology on terms which not many other Western countries have.

The steel mills, power projects, ordinance factories set up during the 60s and 70s in India with their help, he said, now need to be modernized and upgraded for which Russian companies would be ideally suited. The oil and gas sector offers tremendous possibilities after the success of ONGC in Sakhalin 1 oil fields. More concessions/areas have been offered to the Indian companies to explore and exploit. Science and Technology opens up many more avenues to pursue.

Indian companies can improve their share in the Russian market of textiles, and traditional items like tea, coffee, tobacco, jute, handicrafts etc. Indian pharmaceutical companies have their work cut out because of the popularity of their generic products in Russian market. In IT Russian companies urgently need Indian expertise. Diamond is yet another area where Indian companies can set up cutting and polishing units to mutual advantage.

Chairman OIA reminded the Russian businessmen that the Indian economy has been growing impressively over the years and has become a trillion plus dollar economy. Even during the difficult period of economic slowdown globally for the last more than a year India was marginally affected and is set to grow at the rate of 7% this year. This opens up opportunities for Russian enterprises to invest particularly for infrastructure development.

The target set by the two Governments for bilateral trade to reach a figure of USD 20 billion by 2020 is, he felt was a modest one and can very easily be achieved. He exhorted the two sides to work assiduously to achieve it.

Useful contributions and words of advice came from the Mr. Ajay Bisaria Joint Secretary (EURASIA Division) Ministry of External Affairs and Ambassador Amrendra Khatua, (Joint Secretary) Ministry of Commerce. The Russian Deputy Chief Mission Mr. Andrei Sorokin in his address also showed optimism about the upturn in the trade links.

In the inter-active session that followed the participants highlighted the constraints that come in the way of faster growth in trade figures. These were duly addressed by the officials from both sides. Assurances were given that all that is needed would be done to ease the process to provide level playing field. The almost three hour session was deftly managed by Ambassador Soni. It turned out to be productive and informative.