Russian ministry hopes India, EAEU reach free trade agreement soon
YEKATERINBURG. July 11 (Interfax) - Russia's Industry and Trade Ministry hopes that India and the members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) enter into a free trade agreement soon, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said on Monday.
"We now have considerable reserves for increasing the trade turnover [with India]. For this we need to expand mutual access to the domestic markets of our countries. India is one of the largest markets. Russia is also part of the EAEU common area, which ensures free movement of goods and services, capital and labor, common customs tariffs and their regulatory policy. I hope that the idea of concluding a free trade agreement between India and EAEU members will be realized soon, which would serve to deepen our trade and economic relations," Manturov said at the Innoprom international exhibition.
He also said that Russia and India need to intensify the process of convergence in standardization and assessment of compliance, which the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart) and the Bureau of Indian Standards are now working on.
"Coordination and mutual recognition in issues of technical regulation will make it possible to remove excess barriers on our domestic markets for joint manufacturing of products," Manturov said.
Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a plenary session at Innoprom that India expects to increase its trade turnover with Russia to $30 billion by 2025, or five times the 2015 figure.
India has the ambitious goal of increasing bilateral trade to $30 billion by 2025 and bringing foreign direct investment up to $15 billion, Sitharaman said, adding that the trade turnover dropped to $6.1 billion in 2015 from $6.4 billion in 2014.
Industrialization in Russia and India is running a parallel course, the countries are partners and need to raise these processes to a new level, the Indian minister said.
Manturov was quite correct to say that the countries have great opportunities for foreign direct investment that could generate huge profits, Sitharaman said.
Indian companies are now considering various investment opportunities in the Russian economy, including in the metals sector, oil and gas industry and mineral fertilizer product, Sitharaman said.
Russian companies are prepared to invest in the construction sector, the creation of an industrial corridor, in industrial clusters, smart cities and high-tech manufacturing, Sitharaman said, adding that India's energy sector has great potential for investment.
The EAEU includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
