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The Kremlin has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be holding bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The statement added that the talks will mainly focus on trade and energy ties between the countries.
The SCO is currently the largest regional bloc in the world with eight full members – India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. This year’s SCO summit is scheduled to be held at Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 15-16.
“There are plans to discuss issues of ‘saturation’ of the Indian market with Russian fertiliser and bilateral food supplies. First of all, moves, aimed at boosting bilateral trade flows, will be looked at. The trade turnover reached $11.5bn in the first half of 2022, up almost 120 per cent year-on-year.”
In the last few months, the fertiliser imports from Russia have increased by quite a bit when it comes to the Indian market and according to Al Jazeera, India wants to sign a three-year fertiliser import deal.
While the imports in 2021 were worth somewhere around $773.54, they rose significantly between April and July this year with a valuation of $1.03bn, according to the Indian commerce ministry’s website.
The two countries are also looking to solidify their partnership when it comes to energy even after western countries’ criticism of India’s stance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“India is keen to strengthen its partnership with Russia on Arctic issues. There is also immense potential for cooperation in the field of energy,” Modi earlier said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.-(WION)
