Russia looks to Indian investment to grow natural resources sector

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. Russia has renewed its desire to draw Indian investment into developing its huge natural resources sector, seeking to move trade patterns from a long-standing supplier-consumer relationship into new economic partnership. Common interests were "to move gradually from supplier-consumer to growing investments in the energy sector... confirming again our offer to Indian companies to enter Russia's market more actively and develop abundant domestic natural resources," Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov told the sub-continent's ambassador to Russia. Nuclear engineering was a key element of the Russia-India partnership, Morgulov said in a message of congratulation to envoy Pundi Srinivasan Raghavan on the 65th anniversary of India's enacting its republican constitution. “Commissioning of a first power unit of the Kudankulam nuclear plant based on the safest technologies has turned in another stage in these ties,” the minister said, noting that “we are planning to build 20-25 nuclear reactors in different regions of the country”. But “our co-operation is not limited to peaceful atom”, Russia's diplomat added. “Russia is one of the global leaders in terms of hydrocarbon production and export and India is one of the major consumers", Morgulov said, calling for a deeper investment-focussed approach to bilateral trade. Read more