54-year after Nehru, Singh to visit Yekaterinburg in Russia

Vinay Shukla

Yekaterinburg (Russia), June 14 (PTI) After Jawaharlal
Nehru, Manmohan Singh will be the second Indian Prime Minister
to visit the 276-year-old Russian city of Yekaterinburg in
Ural Mountains from where emeralds were sourced for decorating
Taj Mahal.

The Indian Prime Minister will be attending the dual
summits of the Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) grouping and
the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in
Yekaterinburg, on the border between Europe and Asia, on
Tuesday.

During his visit to the ex-USSR in 1955 as the first
Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter and future
prime minister Indira Gandhi had visited this industrial town,
world famous for heavy engineering plant 'Uralmash'.

According to local historian Olga Bukharkina, Nehru had
shown great interest in 'Uralmash' plant, which later supplied
equipment for the Bhilai Steel Plant and other industrial
enterprises, built in India with the Soviet assistance.

'Uralmash' has also supplied some heavy equipment for
the Kudankulam nuclear power plant under construction in
India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, with the Russian
know-how.

Talking to PTI ahead of SCO and BRIC summit, Governor of
Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel said he is highly impressed by
the Indian model of innovative development and knowledge-based
economy.

"I will push for attracting the Indian investments in
hi-tech and innovative sectors," Rossel said, adding the
regional authorities would provide all the possible assistance
to the Indian companies willing to set up IT ventures
and other hi-tech industry.

Fifty-four years ago Nehru's visit to Sverdlovsk led to
the construction of India's first modern steel plant, the
second visit to this town by Singh could open the reverse
trend of India helping Russia in modernising its economy.

Russia could have hardly picked a more appropriate place
to host SCO and BRIC summits than Yekaterinburg, which
eventually emerged as the capital of huge minerals rich
Sverdlovsk Region sprawled in the Ural Mountains.

The region had been an intersection for traders from the
Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, China and Europe from the
time immemorial.

Only a few are aware of the fact that emeralds used in
the decoration of Taj Mahal had come from the Ural Mountains.

The world famous Arkaim, the remains of ancient Aryan
settlement discovered from the space by the Soviet cosmonauts
in 1980s, is located in the neighbouring Chelyabinsk Region,
proving the Ural Mountains as one of the roots of migration of
Aryan ancestors of Indians and Iranians.

Closed for the foreigners in the Soviet period,
Sverdlovsk region along with its mining and minerals complex
is also home to the Russian defence industry, including
manufacturers of the Indian Army's state-of-the-art T-90
main battle tanks - Uralwagonzavod. PTI VS
RAI
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