Breakthrough year in Indo-Russian ties

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, DEC. 20. With marked progress achieved across the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation, 2000 had been a breakthrough year in relations between Russian and India, officials of both sides have said.

``It has been about the best year in our relations since the break-up of the Soviet Union,'' a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official told The Hindu.

India and Russia formalised strategic partnership, upgraded their defence cooperation, moved to revamp economic and scientific ties and enhanced cooperation between the provinces of the two countries during the year.

``With subjective hurdles removed, our relations have been given a decisive push, acquiring new depth, dynamism and purpose,'' the Russian diplomat said.

The Russian President, Mr. Putin, spurred a flurry of high-level bilateral contacts culminating in a long-delayed summit in Delhi in October which sealed strategic partnership between the two countries.

The Russian President's visit to India ushered in a new era, said India's Ambassador to Russia, Mr. S.K. Lambah. ``It has given a powerful impulse to bilateral cooperation in political, strategic, defence and economic areas. During the summit the sides signed a cornerstone Declaration on Strategic Partnership and an unprecedented 16 other accords covering cooperation in defence, science and technology, banking, agriculture, joint exploration for natural gas and other areas.''

``The declaration on strategic partnership turns a page on a decade of disarray and drift in bilateral relations,'' said Dr. Anatoly Kutsenkov, the head of the Indian Studies Centre at the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow.

Key aspects of strategic partnership have been outlined in a series of decisions the two sides have taken this year. India and Russia have stepped up their defence ties by instituting a ministerial-level joint commission on military- technical cooperation. In the next few weeks contracts are expected to be signed for the supply to India of 310 T-90 main battle tanks and the transfer of technology for the manufacture of the SU-30MKI long-range versatile fighter jets. A deal on the refit of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier is also in the pipeline.

The two sides have agreed to hold annual bilateral summits and regular ministerial-level meetings. For the first time the security councils of the two countries have established a mechanism of continuous interaction through joint working groups covering a wide range of issues from terrorism, separatism, arms and drug trafficking, to regional and global stability, as well as economic, ecological and legal dimensions of stability. The first meeting of a working group on Afghanistan met last month in Delhi.

India and Russia have extended till 2010 their uniquely successful long-term programme of scientific and technical cooperation.

Trade between the two countries will get a boost with the opening of a North-South Transport Corridor that will provide a shorter and cheaper rail-road-cum-ferry link between Russia and India through Iran.

The year has also seen a new effort to diversify economic and cultural ties by promoting direct contacts between provinces. An Indo-Russian working group on regional cooperation, set up under the Inter-Governmental Commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation, discussed the issue in its first session in Moscow this month. It was agreed to develop a joint directory of nodal regional organisations, build a computerised database and open joint inter-regional web sites to provide information on business opportunities.

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Section  : International
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