Russia should partner in defence manufacturing: India

Smita Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 4

Seeking redefined ties with Russia in the multilateral changing times, India on Monday called the bilateral relation one that is “neither transactional nor based on convenience”.

Vijay Gokhale, Secretary Economic Relations in the Ministry of External Affairs asked Russia, the biggest arms supplier to India, to become a partner in Indian defence manufacturing.

“This is the opportune time to move from a buyer-seller format to joint production and joint investments under our Prime Minister’s 'Make In India' initiative, in order to bring a new dynamism to our military-technical co-operation,” said Gokhale, addressing the second Meeting of the India-Russia Heads of Think-Tanks Forum at the Indian Council of World Affairs in Delhi.

Vijay Gokhale also made a pitch for greater connectivity links between the two sides, citing the Chabahar port project with Iran as the first step "to build a sea-land link with Central Asia and Russia that is both secure and sustainable".

“Connectivity is one key to unlock this potential. The International North-South Transport Corridor is an exciting new area and we are ready to join Russia in operationalising this idea,” the senior diplomat said. 

Without naming China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Gokhale also re-iterated India’s objection to it on grounds that it connects to China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) passing through PoK.

“It is important for such initiatives to be open, inclusive, transparent and financially sustainable. It is also essential that such initiatives are taken by all States with due sensitivity in respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, so that they are net contributors to regional stability and prosperity,” he said.

Last month at a public event Russian envoy to India Nikolay Kudashev had said that his country views BRI as an ‘economic venture’ and hoped that Delhi-Beijing could hold dialogue on it like ‘two adults’ to resolve their differences.Interestingly at recent Council of Heads of Government Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Sochi, Pakistani Prime Minister Abbasi flaunted CPEC as “the pioneering project of BRI that complements the SCO’s Vision of connectivity and economic integration”.