NEW DELHI: India External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr. S Jaishankar met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, on the 2nd day of Manturov's visit, today, April 18. Manturov, who is also the country's minister for Industry and Trade, arrived in New Delhi today.

This is the second meeting of EAM Jaishankar with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, during the course of his India visit. On Monday, Jaishankar and Manturov met representatives of Russian and Indian businesses at the India-Russia Business Dialogue in New Delhi.

Addressing the Russia-India Business Dialogue, Manturov said, "Together with Eurasian Economic Commission, we are looking forward to intensifying negotiations on Free Trade Agreement with India." The visiting Russian minister also said Moscow is interested in a qualitative increase in trade.

"Additionally, we are working on signing of Russia-India Bilateral Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments," Manturaov said at the event, which was organised jointly by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Russia-India Business Council. To protect the principles of free trade with its partners, Russia has undertaken a set of effective measures, including import preferences. Mechanisms that guarantee the protection of investments will be in demand among Russian and Indian businessmen, Maturaov said.

Notably, INSTC was agreed upon in 2000 and ratified in 2002 by India, Iran, and Russia, and trial runs were conducted in 2016. "Also, we believe that it is important to expand direct air connectivity - this is a necessary condition for regular exchange of business delegations, an increase of mutual tourist flow," he said.

Laying out the challenges faced by Russia, Manturov said Covid-19 led to logistics disruptions. He pointed out that "one-sided illegitimate sanctions by Western states against Russia provoked systemic problems on the global markets". "It led to the acceleration of inflation in many countries. Also, it created difficulties for international transport flows, cargo insurance, and the conduction of financial transactions," he said.

He also stated that despite the dramatic scenarios, Russia's GDP last year decreased by merely 2 per cent. Inflation did not exceed 12 per cent, and now this indicator stands at 3.2 per cent (year on year). Unemployment also is at the historic minimum of 3.7 per cent. The Russian minister said "the margin of safety in his country's economy, and prompt measures" taken by his government provided for "quick adjustment to new realities".

The visiting minister stated Russia is not planning to "fence" themselves off from the rest of the world, stating that such a measure is unrealistic and not feasible economically to substitute everything in all sectors of industry. "We do not have such a goal to achieve complete self-sufficiency -- it is a dead-end, leading eventually to the loss of competitiveness," he said.

EAM Jaishankar also addressed the India-Russia Business Dialogue in Delhi, saying, "We have crossed the bilateral trade target of USD 30 billion before the year 2025 which was the target year given to us by our leaderships. And in fact for the period April 2022 - February 2023, I understand that the trade is actually about USD 45 billion and the expectation is that this will continue to grow." Jaishankar added that India and Russia need to motivate businesses on both sides. He said they are determined to make India a "global manufacturing hub."