Eyeing trade ties, India pitches for defence industrial park

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday pitched for a dedicated defence industrial park as he sought to expand investment ties and make business partnership a key pillar of the decades’ old ties.

“We want Russia to open a dedicated defence industrial park,” Modi said while addressing the first ever mega Indo-Russia business summit comprising 100 CEOs from each side. “Under President Putin’s leadership, India – Russia relations have reached new heights. Our ‘special and privileged strategic partnership’ show our mutual interests,” he said.

“Our relations have grown even stronger due to the efforts of businesses on both sides. In the past two years alone, the trade between the two nations has increased a lot and in particular grown by 20% in 2017-18,” he said, adding, “India considers Russia its most important partner in its economic growth.”


To further facilitate India – Russia relations, the ‘Russia plus’ initiative has also been started, to be a one-stop solution centre for Russian businesses in India. A joint working group has also been created.

“There are many opportunities in India that Russian businesses can take account of, like the Sagarmala project, metro projects, and others, especially in infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, new and renewable energy and nuclear energy,” the PM said .

Putin on his part emphasised the importance of India as a trade partner for Russia. The President highlighted opportunities for trade in energy, digital economy, infrastructure, and start-ups. These were issues discussed at the various sessions at the Summit.

Earlier, Putin had invited Modi as the chief guest for the 2019 Eastern Economic Forum.