India hopes Putin’s visit will help expand its presence in hydrocarbon projects in Russia

NEW DELHI, December 11. /TASS/. India hopes that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit will help local companies expand their presence in hydrocarbon production projects in Russia. This issue will be raised at Putin’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We are interested in more projects in this sphere in Russia,” said director of the Indian foreign ministry’s Eurasia division, Ajay Bisaria. In November, New Delhi hosted a meeting of the Russian-Indian working group on energy and energy efficiency. After the meeting Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Yuri Sentyurin told TASS that “Indian companies may take part in hydrocarbon production in the Arctic and Eastern Siberia.” Apart from that, the Indian Foreign Ministry expressed the hope that agreements to reached during Putin’s visit would help the two countries boost bilateral trade, which is currently amounts to approximately ten billion U.S. dollars. “We are taking efforts to create conditions for the development of trade and mutual investments,” Bisaria noted. Putin’s talks with his Indian counterpart are expected to yield 16 agreements. Four more bilateral documents will be signed on the sidelines of the visit. These documents include agreements on cooperation in the military technical sphere and in nuclear energy. “Up to 24 nuclear units may be built in India with Russia’s participation,” Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin said. Other documents include an agreement on cooperation between Russia’s Skolkovo Foundation and India’s electronics and software export promotion council. The agreement provides for information exchange on Skolkovo’s and the council’s projects in Russia and in India with an eye of establishing joint partnerships - innovation companies interested in entering the markets of these countries. Apart from that, the agreement envisages development of joint programmes for the localization and financial support to joint projects implemented by Russian and Indian innovation companies. Two more agreements will be signed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund. One of them will be with India’s leading infrastructure fund, IDFC, or Infrastructure Development Finance Company. Under the document, the parties will invest one billion U.S. dollars /500 million U.S. dollars each/ to infrastructure projects, including in the area of hydropower generation. This is Putin’s sixth visit to India in the capacity of president. One more visit to New Delhi was paid in 2010, when he was Russian Prime Minister. Putin’s first visit to India took place in 2000. The sides then signed a Declaration of Strategic Partnership and agreed to hold annual bilateral summits. Putin and Modi will meet with Russian and Indian businessmen and will open the World Diamond Conference, where Russian and Indian companies are expected to sign a cooperation agreement. The visit’s programme will be rounded up by a reception on behalf of Indian President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee at his residence. The construction of Rashtrapati Bhavan /Presidential Palace/ began in the 1910s. It has 340 rooms with an overall area of about 19,000 square metres. Initially, the building was used by India’s Viceroy and since 1950, when country gained independence, it has been used as a presidential residence. Read more