Mukesh Ambani to co-chair India-Russia CEOs council

Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, will co-chair the India-Russia CEOs council, set up to strengthen bilateral business cooperation in the areas of oil, energy, power, transport, telecom and high technology.

Announcing this at the conclusion of the 2nd meeting of India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said with this "the level of economic engagement between the two countries should increase."

Ten CEOs each from India and Russia will be on the council, which will work towards converting about $8 billion worth of projects under discussion and explore new areas for trade and investment, Nath said.

Nath was addressing a joint press conference with Russian minister for economic development and trade Elvira S Nabiullina, coinciding with the visit of Russian deputy prime minister Victor A Zubkov.

Nabiulliana said, the "CEOs council will be useful to increase the trade manifold between the two countries."

India and Russia have agreed to boost the bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2010.