• India and Russia vowed to ramp up cooperation in confronting major challenges such as terrorism, radicalism and the situation in Afghanistan during a summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi on December 6.

• The two countries inked 28 pacts, including a major agreement for joint production of over six lakh AK-203 rifles in a facility in Uttar Pradesh. 

• Largely, the areas of focus for stepping up cooperation included defence and military, civil nuclear energy, space, transport and connectivity, energy, trade and health.

• The summit followed the inaugural ‘2+2’ foreign and defence ministerial dialogue and the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC). 

Key points of the summit:

• Russia has been a longstanding and time-tested partner for India. Development of India-Russia relations has been a key pillar of India’s foreign policy. 

• The completion of five decades of the 1971 Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation and two decades of Declaration on Strategic Partnership is symbolic of the long standing and time-tested India-Russia relations.

• India-Russia ties acquired a qualitatively new character with enhanced levels of cooperation in almost all areas of the bilateral relationship including political, security, defence, trade and economy, science and technology, and culture. In December 2010, the Strategic Partnership was elevated to the level of a ‘Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership’.

• During the summit, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the ‘Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership’.

• The leaders stressed on the need for greater efforts to achieve the trade target of $30 billion by 2025.

• Trade in pharmaceuticals continues to be one of the main items of India’s exports to Russia. Both sides noted with satisfaction the continued strength of this commodity as well as Indian companies’ participation in Russia’s localisation programme under Pharma 2020 and Pharma 2030 schemes.

• They underscored the need for commencement of negotiations on trade agreement between India and the Eurasian Economic Union.

• Both sides reiterated their joint efforts under the ‘Roadmap for Cooperation in Hydrocarbons for 2019-24’ to further deepen bilateral cooperation in the energy sector and welcomed the opening of Bharat Energy Center in Moscow, representing five Indian oil and gas public sector companies to enhance engagement with Russian stakeholders in the energy sector.

• They welcomed the signing of agreement between Russian Railways (RZD) and CONCOR last year to jointly develop multi-modal logistics services along the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). The Russian side expressed support for India’s proposal to include Chabahar port within the framework of INSTC.

• The feasibility study of the Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor is in advanced stage, and the study indicates an array of opportunities for increased traffic upon the successful implementation of its recommendations.

• Both countries welcomed the enhanced cooperation between the State Space Corporation “Roscosmos” and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), including in the human spaceflight programs and satellite navigation and agreed to study the prospects of the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in the development of launch vehicles and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, including planetary exploration.

• Ahead of the summit, the two countries held inaugural ‘2+2’ foreign and defence dialogue, attended by Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Gen Sergey Shoigu.

• Separately, Rajnath and Shoigu co-chaired a meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission during which the two sides inked the agreement for joint production of over six lakh AK-203 assault rifles at a manufacturing facility in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi and extended the pact on military cooperation for 10 years (2021-31).

• The rifles will be manufactured for the Indian armed forces at a cost of around Rs 5,000 crore. The 10-year pact on military cooperation is a renewal of an existing framework.

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