Russia shows interest in joining India to manufacture aircraft

NEW DELHI: Russia today evinced interest in joining hands with India to manufacture passenger and cargo aircraft.

During his talks with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin expressed interest in establishing joint ventures for the purpose.

In its attempt at taking cooperation beyond military aviation, Russia had earlier offered co-production of passenger aircraft in India, including its 90-seater Sukhoi 100 Superjet.

India has also launched a project to design and manufacture its first indigenous 90-seater passenger aircraft. The work on the project, called the National Civilian Plane, is being undertaken at the National Aerospace Laboratory in Bangalore.

Russia's interest in joining hands with India in manufacturing passenger planes came up during Rogozin's discussion with Krishna at the meeting of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation.