He held meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, Minister of Transport Yevgeny Deitrich, Minister for Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin, Minister for the Development of the Far East Alexander Kozlov, and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov.Furthering the goal of increased cooperation between the regions of the Russian Federation, the Minister also had meetings with 4 Governors of Stavropol, Yaroslavl, Udmurtia and Ingushetia.During the various meetings, both sides appreciated and noted the fact that India-Russia trade has increased considerably, but was still less than the potential. The thrust of the conversations was creating and executing a plan for increased India Russian trade and economic co-operation.Towards this end logistics, infrastructure, knowledge based economies, diamonds and gold were highlighted as important focus areas. In the infrastructure sector, the status of the Joint study with Russian Railways on the high speed Railway line between Nagpur and Secunderabad was discussed. The Indian Minister also highlighted the need to set up Joint Ventures which should participate in tenders in third countries.Knowledge based sectors like pharmaceuticals, innovative industries, digital economies were discussed as target areas of Joint cooperation. The Indian Commerce and Industry Minister and the Russian Minister of Transport agreed that operationalising the International North South Transport Corridor would propel trade between the two countries to new heights by providing a faster more viable trade route, and therefore should be a priority for both.

Source: Economic Times May 26, 2018 18:11 UTC