India and Russia are beginning a new era of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region to make it “open, free and inclusive”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, amid China flexing its military muscles in the strategic region.

Addressing the plenary session of the 5th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), Modi said, “When ships start plying between Vladivostok and Chennai with the opening of the maritime routes between the two cities, the Russian port city will become the springboard of the Northeast Asia market in India. This will further deepen the Indo-Russia partnership.”

A memorandum of intent was signed for the development of maritime communications between the ports of Chennai and Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East region.

“We are starting a new era of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region,” Modi said, adding that the partnership between India and Russian in the development of the Far East will make it a “confluence of open, free and inclusive Indo-Pacific”.

The Far East, Modi said, will become the bedrock of a strong Indo-Russia ties, which is based on the principles of “rules-based order, sovereignty, respect for territorial integrity and is against engaging in the internal matters of other countries”.

India, the US and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military maneuvering in the region.

China has been trying to expand its military presence in the Indo-Pacific, a biogeographic region comprising the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the sea.

$1 bn line of credit

Modi said India will walk shoulder-to-shoulder with Russia in its development of the Far East and announced a $1 billion line of credit for the development of the resource-rich region.

“India’s connection to Russia’s Far East go back a long way. India was the first country to open a consulate in Vladivostok,” he said.

“For the development of the Far East, India will give a line of credit worth $1 billion. My government has actively engaged East Asia as part of its Act East policy. I firmly believe that today’s announcement will add a new dimension to the economic diplomacy of the two countries,” Modi said.

The prime minister, in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, also unveiled the Act Far East policy to boost India’s engagement with Russia’s Far East region.

Indian firms have invested more than $7 billion in taking stake in Russian oil and gas fields. India ventured into Russia when its flagship overseas firm ONGC Videsh in 2001 acquired a 20 per cent stake in Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field in Far East Russia.