Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday met a delegation led by visiting Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and discussed issues of bilateral interest including investment opportunities and matters relating to banking and finance, an official announcement said.
“Both India and Russia expressed expectations of strong outcomes from the upcoming 23rd India-Russia annual summit scheduled to be held on December 5. The Russian First Deputy Prime Minister extended strong support to India’s upcoming chairship of BRICS,” said a statement from Sitharaman’s office shared in social media.
Manturov was accompanied by Russia’s minister of economic development Reshetnikov Maxim, minister of finance Siluanov Anton and Central Bank Chairman Nabiullina Elvira.
Officials from India’s Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Financial Services, RBI, and the Ministry of External Affairs were part of the meeting.
On Thursday, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and Russia’s Federal Customs Service (FCS) signed a deal for faster border clearance of consignments. CBIC Chairman Vivek Chaturvedi and Russia’s Deputy Head of Federal Customs Service (FCS) Tatiana Merkushova signed a deal for information sharing regarding goods and vehicles moved between the countries.
Pre-arrival information exchange enables customs authorities to assess risks and process consignments in advance, ensuring faster and more secure border clearance, CBIC said in a social media post. “This will strengthen trade facilitation while enhancing security, transparency, and overall efficiency in cross-border movements,” CBIC stated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently in the capital for the summit. Prime Minister Modi greeted Putin at the airport on Thursday and said India-Russia friendship is a time tested one that has greatly benefitted people. “Looking forward to our interactions later this evening and tomorrow,” Modi said in a social media post.
The visit of Russian President and the delegation comes at a time India is facing pressure from the U.S. to cut down oil imports from Russia, for which a 25% additional tariff on India’s exports to the US has been imposed by Washington since August this year. India is currently negotiating a trade deal with the US but is maintaining close ties with Russia.
In August, Modi held a bilateral meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin. Both leaders then welcomed the steady progress in bilateral ties and reaffirmed that the two countries were development partners and not rivals and that their differences should not turn into disputes, according to an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on 31 August.