Jumping on to the Make in India bandwagon, old ally Russia has put forward a series of joint manufacturing projects to New Delhi, proposing to manufacture helicopters, airliners and satellite navigation systems, besides setting up a multi-billion dollar start up fund to promote nano technology.
A slew of projects have been discussed at the top level during the recent visit of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, all aimed at going beyond the tradition supplier-buyer relationship that made Moscow the largest supplier of defence equipment to India for the past few decades. It has recently been replaced by the US in the past three years.
This was unthinkable a decade ago, but today it is a stark reality. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, the “Make in India” marketing campaign, is another concerted move aimed at greater indigenization that will inevitably make things more difficult for the Russian defense industry.But now finally the two strategic partners have begun to adjust to new realities and deepen their bilateral cooperation in newer areas, in such non-defense areas as agriculture, food processing, hydrocarbons, coking coal, fertilizers, mining, civil aviation, infrastructure and rough diamonds.It’s definitely good news that Indo-Russian relations are being revamped. Yet both sides realize the importance not only of staying engaged, but also of focusing on achieving concrete deliverables in all possible areas of cooperation in a timely fashion.
This was unthinkable a decade ago, but today it is a stark reality. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, the “Make in India” marketing campaign, is another concerted move aimed at greater indigenization that will inevitably make things more difficult for the Russian defense industry.But now finally the two strategic partners have begun to adjust to new realities and deepen their bilateral cooperation in newer areas, in such non-defense areas as agriculture, food processing, hydrocarbons, coking coal, fertilizers, mining, civil aviation, infrastructure and rough diamonds.It’s definitely good news that Indo-Russian relations are being revamped. Yet both sides realize the importance not only of staying engaged, but also of focusing on achieving concrete deliverables in all possible areas of cooperation in a timely fashion.
No comments:
Post a Comment