PM seeks a new high for Indo-Russia trade ties

Prime minister Manmohan Singh today asked industry captains from both India and Russia to help push bilateral economic relations to new levels even as the two countries set an ambitious trade target of $20 billion by 2015.

Singh and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev want bilateral trade between India and Russia to rise to $20 billion - a level that is on par with their close political relations - by 2015 from around $7 billion in 2008.

"India and Russia are strategic partners and we have a broad-ranging relationship. However, our bilateral trade and investment cooperation have not kept pace with our close political ties. This is despite the fact that there are strong complementarities between our two trillion-dollar-plus economies," Singh told the Indo-Russia CEOs Council.

The prime minister, who is on a three-day official visit to Russia, said India expects greater trade in specific areas like nuclear energy, information technology, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure with Russia, and assured all support to the council.

Besides, he said, Russian industry can convert the current ad-hoc Indian contracts for rough diamonds into long-term arrangements.

"The recent conclusion of negotiations on a broad-based inter-governmental agreement on civil nuclear energy will open fresh opportunities," he said.