Russian tel co Sistema issue could come up during Singh, Medvedev meeting

New Delhi, Mar 23 (PTI) The issue of Russian telecom giant Sistema, whose 2G licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court of India recently, could come up for discussions when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here next week on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. Arkady Dvorkovich, Advisor to Medvedev, gave ample hints in this regard during a media interaction, but made it clear that Russia will not act in any way that contradicts Indian laws. Sistema JSFC, the majority shareholder in Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) that operates MTS, has already sent a notice to the Indian government invoking the right to protect its investment under a bilateral treaty against the Supreme Court order. "All issues of that kind are discussed at that (top) level and it depends on relationship between any countries. Based on the relationship between our leaders, I think, they will informally discuss this issue," Dvorkovich told select Indian mediapersons through tele-conferencing from Moscow. "But any case issues of such nature are resolved on the basis of legislation of any country and certainly Russia will not act in any way that contradicts Indian legislation," he said. The President's adviser was responding to a question whether Medvedev would take up the Sistema issue during his talks with Singh on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit scheduled to be held here on March 28. He hoped that Sistema will be allowed to continue its operations in India as the company serves for the development of the Indian telecommunication market. "It (Sistema) has been a corporate citizen of India for long and it has been in the market. It would be good if our company continues to be in (India)," he said. Sistema has a 56.68 per cent stake in SSTL and 21 of its 22 licences have been cancelled by the Supreme Court. Dvorkovich said Medvedev would fly to New Delhi from Seoul, where he will attend the Nuclear Security Summit, and hold bilateral meetings with Singh and other leaders of the BRICS countries. He said besides global economic situation and more representation for developing countries in global financial institutions, Medvedev will also discuss the situation in Middle East, especially Syria, and the Iran nuclear crisis. He indicated that the Summit leaders would come out with a detailed analysis of the situation and share their opinion on the situation. On whether setting up of the BRICS Bank would help avoid problems like the one India faced in delivering its payments to Iran due to sanctions, the Presidential Advisor made it clear that the institution was not being conceived for such purposes as its aim is to support development of poor countries in Asia and Africa. "This bank is not for (accepting) bilateral payments. This is basically to support poor countries of Asia and Africa. The issue of Iran is dealt on a different basis," he said. One of the major discussions at the Summit, Dvorkovich said, would be on strengthening the presence of developed countries in financial institutions like World Bank and IMF. On whether the BRICS countries would put their own candidate for the Presidentship of World Bank, he said the focus should be on developing nations playing a significant role in financial institutions and not about taking positions as heads of such organisations. However, he said there was some more time left to take a decision on the issue. PTI