India, Russia conclude second Strategic Economic Dialogue
11 Jul 2019
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The second India-Russia Strategic Economic Dialogue (IRSED) held in New Delhi on Wednesday, decided to focus attention on six core areas covering transport, agriculture, small and medium business, digital technologies, finance, tourism and connectivity
Accordingly, the two countries will cooperate in the development of transport infrastructure and technologies; development of agriculture and agro-processing sector; small and medium business support; digital transformation and frontier technologies. The two sides would also cooperate in trade, banking, finance, tourism and connectivity.
“The IRSED comes at an opportune moment as India embarks upon ensuring the fruits of development devolve to the grassroots, as every citizen of the country becomes part of the growth and development process, as evidenced by a forward-looking Union Budget. Increased investment and international cooperation is key”, said Rajiv Kumar vice chairman, NITI Aayog.
“Results of today's discussions will help enhance strategic economic cooperation between our countries. We must discuss and prepare specific proposals for joint action in the future and establish economic relations which reflect the potential of cooperation between the two countries”, said Timur Maksimov.
The dialogue included parallel roundtables which discussed areas of cooperation and concrete roadmaps for future negotiations across outlined core areas. Participants included government officials, business leaders and experts, bringing in diverse perspectives for ideation.
The roundtable on digital transformation and frontier transformation focused on areas of collaboration between India and Russia in the digital space and frontier technologies – how the various platforms developed by Russia can be leveraged by India, and vice versa, and potential for future collaborations across various sectors such as payments platform, joint startup ecosystem, use of digital technology in various areas such as education, construction and skilling.
The roundtable on development of transport infrastructure and technologies discussed areas of cooperation across various modes of transport such as speed upgradation, safety and passenger comfort in railways, creation of twin ports between India and Russia, ship building and river navigation, research and development, and ensuring predictability of cost and movement schedules across transport corridors.
For increasing collaboration and cooperation between small and medium businesses in India and Russia, the roundtable recommended setting up of nodal points of interaction between the two countries. Ensuring access to finance, seamless digital banking, access to e-markets and broad-based engagement across sectors were also discussed.
The roundtable on agriculture and agro-processing noted the dynamic nature of agriculture, livestock rearing and food processing in both countries and the immense opportunities of cooperation. Recommendations included closer communication between the respective agriculture ministries to streamline collaborative efforts. Reciprocity in terms of acceptance of certification, deployment of AI-backed frontline technologies and software were also under discussion.
The roundtable on tourism and connectivity highlighted the need to increase bilateral tourism and exploring natural avenues for economic and commercial partnerships. Expanding visitor itineraries for both countries, and creating more products for tourist interest such as yoga and medical tourism were also considered. Working towards improving regional connectivity and improving government and industry cooperation was also discussed.
The roundtable on industrial trade and cooperation saw participation across industries in energy, finance and industries, which emphasised awareness exchange between the two countries in areas of investment opportunities. Exploring better business-to-business communication and collaboration, generating greater investment flows through public and private cooperation in an organised way were also discussed.
The IRSED was established following a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between NITI Aayog and the ministry of economic development of the Russian Federation during the 19th edition of the Annual India-Russia Bilateral Summit, which was held on 5 October 2018, in New Delhi.
The First India-Russia Strategic Economic Dialogue was held in St Petersburg from 25 to 26 November 2018, and was chaired by Maxim Oreshkin, minister of economic development of the Russian Federation, and Rajiv Kumar, vice chairman, NITI Aayog.
The two sides are working on an actionable framework to be included in the joint statement to be released soon.
