VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We have just had a substantive conversation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. We discussed topical issues of bilateral cooperation.
Holding a joint meeting with the members of the Russian-Indian Enterprise Management Council makes sense. For it is you who, in many ways, determine the prospects for business cooperation between the two countries. I am confident that our joint dialogue will be useful and will help us to identify new areas of joint work.
I would like to say that the strengthening of our strategic partnership with India has been, and remains, a key priority for Russian foreign policy. That applies both to our interaction in the international arena and to the development of multi-faceted economic relations.
We have already created a solid base for the latter. Over the last three years our trade has grown at a steady 30% a year. Moreover, it grew even in a time of global crisis. It grew by almost 8% during the first nine months of this year. It is a totally unique phenomenon. We see that cooperation with India has become genuinely immune to the crisis and that it need not fear fluctuations in the world market.
Our task now is to move forward, to develop all the myriad opportunities we have to diversify the Russian-Indian partnership. The time has come to move to a qualitatively new level of bilateral interaction and to move on from traditional trade to large-scale joint projects and investments, including in the markets of third countries. This is even more important now when we are already seeing early signs of recovery in the global economy and business activity.
These positive trends are apparent in Russia too. Since June 2009 the GDP has been growing month on month and investment demand and retail trade have been gradually recovering. The macro-economic situation remains stable, inflation in the country is set to be at one of its lowest rates since 1992, certainly under 10%, and I think it my be 9%.
Traditionally Russia has had a large foreign trade surplus: at the end of 2009 it will be about $100 billion. Foreign investment is flowing in, the national currency, the rouble, is growing stronger and our sovereign wealth fund has now reached more than $447 billion.
In implementing anti-crisis measures we focused on stimulating domestic demand, above all in the automotive industry, housing construction and on boosting high-tech exports. We are committed to the deep modernization of our industry and to making the national economy more effective and competitive.
We seek to create a highly beneficial environment for business. To this end we are improving our legal mechanisms, including corporate, tax and anti-monopoly legislation.
We consider the implementation of joint business projects to be a key factor in achieving sustained development and economic growth. In that respect we recognise that India has for a great many years proved our reliable partner. We have many promising areas such as mineral extraction, metallurgy, energy, the jewellery and chemical industries, pharmaceutics, aviation, machine-building, space, transport and communications.
It is heartening that businessmen in our two countries seek to implement ambitious projects in practically every sphere. I would like to mention those leading Russian companies which have been very successful and effective on the Indian market. They include Atomstroyexport, AFK Sistema, KAMAZ, Silovye Mashiny and Gazprom among others.
Notable results have been achieved in the energy and oil and gas sectors. Sakhalin-1 has been supplying oil to India for three years now. I would like to remind you that our Indian partners hold a 20% stake in that project.
We welcome our Indian partners' readiness to expand their business activity in Russia. I am referring here to their plans to take part in developing hydrocarbons on Yamal and in the Tomsk Region.
As ever, cooperation in the nuclear, hydro and thermal energy sectors is making good headway. I have in mind chiefly our partnership on such projects as the Kudankulam nuclear plant, and the Obra, Corba, TERI and SIPAT stations.
I am sure that we should focus more on our interaction in innovative fields such as information and nano-technologies. We would like to see close cooperation, the development of joint training programmes and the pooling of efforts in these fields. This is even more necessary because both our countries are making promising developments in a whole range of high-tech industries.
The Prime Minister and I were just now discussing the development of a fifth-generation fighter plane and a military transport plane. We discussed joint programmes in the exploration of outer space and the Moon.
Here I would like to mention the useful work done by the Russian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific-Technical and Cultural Cooperation.
A similar mood is apparent in the work of our two countries' business associations, the Russian-Indian Chamber of Trade and of course your Enterprise Management Council.
During the course of this meeting I hope to hear what further steps can be taken to step up bilateral cooperation.
In conclusion I would like to wish all those present good health and continuing success as we implement these joint business initiatives and plans. I would like to give the floor to my Indian counterpart, Mr. Manmohan Singh.
Manmohan Singh (translated into English from the Russian translation of his original speech): Mr. Putin. Mr. Sobyanin, Mr. Yevtushenko, Mr. Ambani (the Council's Indian co-chairman), esteemed members of the Russian-Indian Enterprise Management Council. I am very glad to have the opportunity, together with Mr. Putin, to meet with so many important businessmen from our two countries.
Mr. Putin is playing a very important role in the development of cooperation between our countries on many levels. We hope that he will continue to promote our relations. I was very pleased with our dialogue tonight.
India and Russia are strategic partners. We have very diverse relations. However, our mutual trade and investments do not quite match our strong political bonds. This is due to a major discrepancy, of about 2 trillion dollars, between our economies.
We hope to launch various initiatives to develop business and our business ties. This includes the further development of Indian-Russian investments which began in 2007 and carried over into 2008. The Indian-Russian forum has trebled its platform of further cooperation between our countries.
We would like the Russian-Indian Enterprise Management Council, this group of business leaders, to make the most of the vast economic potential that our two countries have.
Russia is rich in mineral resources, including hydrocarbons. We seek to use the most advanced technologies in such areas as safety and biotechnology.
India is an economy which has a huge market, a huge labour force and needs massive investments in our infrastructure. I am glad that we have set new targets for our mutual trade: $20 billion for 2015. We should also invest more in bilateral trade.
Your Excellency, I would like to name several areas for further cooperation. We have very strong links. Russia is a leading energy producer and India is one of the most active energy consumers. We need new technologies to support both the high-end and low-end activities between our countries. In particular, we should continue working on Sakhalin-1. Your Excellency and I had a very detailed and constructive discussion of this issue.
We see new opportunities opening up in the nuclear energy sector after the signing in December last year of a new agreement on building additional capacity at Kudankulam and the allocation of a new site in West Bengal.
The recently concluded talks on a large-scale intergovernmental agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy opens up new opportunities for cooperation.
India could become the Russian Federation's ideal partner in pharmaceuticals, something Russia has declared a priority area of cooperation. India has already shown that it is a reliable supplier of quality generics to Russia. We must strengthen our cooperation in this field, including by creating joint ventures.
Your Excellency, India is a recognised global leader in the field of information technologies. Cooperation with Indian companies in such sectors as Business Process Outsourcing and Knowledge Process Outsourcing has brought considerable benefits to various, mainly American and European, countries and companies. Both sides stand to gain from closer cooperation in these fields.
Your Excellency, vast opportunities are opening up for Russian companies working in India, especially in infrastructure development, the construction industry and engineering services. We invite Russian companies to invest in India more actively.
Your Excellency, the Indian economy has been growing at a rate of 6.7% in spite of the global economic downturn. This year it will grow by about 7%. Our level of investment shows that we are capable of reaching an annual growth rate of 9% in about two years. Our investment level is about 37% of GDP. Our savings amount to about 35% of GDP.
So we see that real opportunities are emerging, that make it possible to increase investment and bring the growth to 9% within two years. This is the growth rate that prevailed during our Government's first four years in office before the global recession set in.
Your Excellency, our two countries mutually complement each other in a very natural way. Russia is a major producer in the uncut diamond trade, and India is a recognized world centre of diamond cutting. In spite of the difficulties our companies must work towards long-term cooperation in this field.
There are other areas on which the Enterprise Management Council should focus, because it is you who should be the drivers of global growth in the next decade. I urge you to assume a leading role and ensure more active cooperation between the business communities of India and Russia.
We pin great hopes on you and I would like to assure you that our Government will give its full support to the Council in all its work.
We look forward to hearing about the results of your joint discussion today.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
After the meeting the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin decorated the President of SUN Group, Nand Khemka, with the Order of Friendship.
