India and Russia are likely to sign a host of agreements of significance, which will be a reflection of the breadth of their relationship and particularly, the depth of their cooperation in the defence sector, said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Roa in the capital on Saturday.
Breifing media persons ahead of the visit, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao stated the list of likely agreements during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit.
The list of probable agreements during this Dr.Singh’s Moscow visit include:
• Agreement on extending the Programme for Military and Technical Cooperation for the period 2011-2020;
• Agreement on After Sales Support for Russian arms and military equipment supplied to India;
• Protocol to the Agreement on Cooperation in Development and Production of Multi-Role Transport Aircraft (MTA);
• Dollar credit line Agreement between Vnesheconombank of the Russian Federation and the Exim Bank of India for the extension of a 100 million dollar credit to Russia for certain imports of equipment from India;
• MoU on cultural exchanges between India and the Russian Federation.
“ A Joint Declaration will be issued by the two leaders during the visit on deepening our strategic partnership to meet global challenges,” Rao informed.
“In addition to these, we are currently in the advanced stages of finalizing a bilateral framework Inter-Government Agreement on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. Several rounds of negotiations have already taken place between our experts and we are hopeful that the agreement will be finalised during the visit. This agreement envisages broad-based cooperation on a range of technologies and know-how in the realm of peaceful uses of nuclear technology,” Rao informed.
India has an existing agreement with Russia (of 1988) for cooperation in the construction of two 1000 MW nuclear power units.
India and Russia defense cooperation has for long been a key element of their relationship.
“We have moved well beyond a buyer-seller relationship to joint production through the transfer of relevant technologies. In fact, the development of the Indian defence industry has been in large measure due to the strong relationship we have had with Russia and the Soviet Union earlier. A very robust bilateral institutions mechanism exists to discuss the defence relationship. The apex of this structure is the inter-governmental commission headed by the two Defence ministers on military-technical cooperation.”
During the annual summit, this relationship will be reviewed at the highest level, Rao stated.
In the hydrocarbon sector, cooperation in which is another critical element of India-Russia relationship.
“We are hoping to intensify this cooperation with further participation in oil and gas fields in the Russian Far-East,” the Foreign Secretary informed.
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