New Delhi, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu has met his Russian counterpart Denis Manturov and held discussions on enhancing bilateral trade and investment between India and Russia.
Mr Prabhu also held bilateral meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev on areas of cooperation between the two countries to strengthen bilateral ties for economic growth.
He also interacted with the Governors, Vice-Governors and Representatives of the Russian Far East Regions of Primorye, Yakutia, Sakhalin, Amur, Magadan, Kamchatka and Khabarovsk. Discussions were held on possibilities of mutual cooperation in sectors like mining, agriculture and tourism. He apprised them of various business and investment opportunities in the country and his government’s initiatives to facilitate the same through invest in India.
Mr Prabhu has recently visited the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in Russia. The visit began with a tour of the diamond cutting and polishing factory set up by the KGK Group of India in Vladivostok.
The Commerce Minister had discussions with KGK Group MD Vithal Ramani to explore the potential and sourcing and value addition opportunities in the diamond trade for India, an official statement said here.
On the last day of the three-day visit, the Minister participated in the session of “Timber in the Russian Far East: Increasing the Industries Economic Returns”. Discussions were held on how to explore possibilities of working together for mutual benefit through this resource in a sustainable manner..
India is one of the world’s largest importers of timber having imported over 3 million cubic meters of topical logs in 2016 and 346,000 cubic meters of tropical veneer.
Although bulk of imports comes from countries like Malaysia, Myanmar, Ghana and Ecuador, it is now facing difficulties in securing raw material from these countries. This opens up opportunities for suppliers in the Far East Region of Russia which enjoys an abundance of timber resources.
The Commerce Minister also participated in the session on “Digital Transport: The future of Greater Eurasia at the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia”. The Minister said that sustainable mobility solutions are emerging as an important industry across the world and India is looking to working with partners like Russia in the green mobility space.
