With an aim to achieve the target of $30 billion in bilateral trade in the next 10 years, India and Russia have discussed the ways to boost their economic ties. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, chairing the 21st India-Russia Inter-Governmental Consultations, also looked at ways to enhance the mutual direct investment to $15 billion by 2025.
Both the countries identified various sectors in order to achieve their commercial targets. Agriculture, pharmaceutical and infrastructure were some of the areas identified by both countries to strengthen their economic engagement. The other areas deliberated upon were space, energy, culture and science and technology.
Furthermore, India reiterated its commitment to work towards having 12 Russian nuclear plants as was agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin as Russia is an important partner for India in peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Last year, the bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $9.51 billion, with Indian export touching $3.17 billion and imports from Russia $6.34 billion.