The Russian President and Indian Prime Minister sum up the year's results.
Dmitry Medvedev continued his negotiations with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which began yesterday evening.
This marks their third meeting this year, and the visit completes the Year of India in Russia. "This is not just an exchange of impressions on how things are going," the Russian President explained at the beginning of the meeting. "We are truly committed to doing everything in our power to strengthen this strategic partnership."
The fruits of cooperation include an agreement on a programme for military-technical cooperation in 2011-2020, an agreement on the after-sale servicing of weapons and military hardware sold to India, a programme for cultural exchanges in 2010-2012, a credit agreement between VEB and the Export-Import Bank of India and, arguably the most important item, an initialed agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
According to Mr Medvedev, the nuclear agreement will allow the parties to develop cooperation for many years to come. He stressed that Russia was not interested in the expansion of the nuclear club and wanted nuclear technologies to be kept under control to prevent them from falling into the hands of radicals. "That applies, among other things, to the Iranian nuclear programme," the President noted. As head of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko pointed out, the agreement is worth not mere billions, but in fact tens of billions of dollars, and it lifts all conceivable restrictions. Russia intends to build between 12 and 16 nuclear reactors in India.
A serious blemish in bilateral relations is the fate of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, which the Sevmash Shipyard has been busy modernising for its Indian partners for the last five years. A compromise between the client's requirements and the cost of the project proved to be out of reach. Now, however, the situation may have a happy ending, thanks to the two countries' leaders stepping in. A source in the delegation has revealed that "the matter of the Admiral Gorshkov has finally been put to rest". The final price is a commercial secret. Another member of the delegation confirmed that an agreement has indeed been reached.
Mr Singh was obviously pleased. He could barely contain his satisfaction with the visit. He agreed with everything Mr Medvedev said and lavished praise on Russians for their hospitality. He described Russia as a major global power, a factor of peace and stability. For his part, Mr Medvedev called the links with India "relations between close friends and partners."
Along with military cooperation, the economy is also quite high on the agenda. Bilateral trade this year climbed 7.5%. Mr Medvedev put the target at 10 billion dollars (in 2008 it came close to 7 billion dollars), though, as he said, "that is not the limit." More impressive figures must be achieved. Mr Singh went so far as to cite $20 billion by 2015.
Pharmacology was yet another priority, one which both Mr Medvedev and Mr Singh placed special emphasis on. They discussed it just minutes before the press conference started. The Russian President noted that it was not only a growing market, but one in which India was well represented and had some established brands. "Joint business in this sphere is really quite interesting," he concluded.
In addition to diamonds and pharmacology, the two leaders made it quite clear that information technologies and telecommunications is another promising sphere of cooperation. According to Mr Singh, Russia is coming to the forefront as an investor in India in this field. "We must create an image of the power industry of the 21st century, and that's impossible without modern technologies," Mr Medvedev said.
On Sunday evening, the fight against international terrorism took centre stage for the Russian President and the Indian Prime Minister. "Our country is pushing for an early adoption of an anti-terrorism convention," Mr Medvedev indicated. He had visited India shortly after the horrific terrorist attack in Mumbai, which shocked the whole world. Similarly, the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Russia nearly coincided with the Neva Express train crash. The Russian leader presented a list of what needed to be done to fight terrorism. According to the list, the basis for anti-terrorist cooperation must be strengthened, practical mutual assistance must be rendered, counterterrorist technologies must be used, and the intelligence services of the two countries must help each other and keep each other informed on what is happening on their respective borders.
Mr Singh then spent the evening with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The two prime ministers attended a meeting of the Russian-Indian Enterprise Management Council.
Mr Putin referred to India as a strategic partner and suggested that the two leaders discuss diversifying relations. Mr Singh replied in kind and called his Russian colleague "a great friend of India". He went on to thank Mr Putin for accepting the invitation to visit India in March and promised a warm reception. His one and only complaint was that Russia wasn't investing more in India. He lamented the fact that the level of Russian investments didn't match the high level seen in other fields.
As Mr Putin quickly pointed out, however, "Cooperation with India has achieved stability even in the face of the crisis." He called for a transition from traditional trade to large-scale projects and investments, including those in the markets of third countries, and urged for more attention to be given to information and nanotechnologies. "Our countries have a head start in a wide range of high technology sectors. We've just been discussing the creation of a fifth-generation fighter plane and a military transport aircraft. We discussed joint programmes for the exploration of outer space and the Moon, as well," Mr Putin added.
Kira Latukhina