(a) whether the 20th round of Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission held its meeting in the recent past;
(b) if so, the details of issues discussed during the said meeting;
(c) the details of issues on which both the countries agreed for further cooperation during the course of the said meeting; and
(d) the manner in which both the countries are likely to be benefited therefrom?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]
(a) Yes. The 20th Session of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission was held in New Delhi on November 5, 2014.
(b) & (c) In the spirit of traditional friendship and mutual trust between India and Russia, the Commission reviewed the progress in a broad range of bilateral sectors, including trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation. Some important decisions taken during the Commission meeting include:
(i) A Joint Study Group for the proposed agreement between India and the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation for trade in goods and services.
(ii) Enhancement of bilateral trade through operationalisation of the International North-South Corridor Project (INSTC) by freight forwarders and exporters, particularly to bolster trade in agriculture and food processing industry.
(iii) Maintain the momentum of cooperation in some priority areas such as hydrocarbons, coking coal, fertilizers, mining, civil aviation, infrastructure and trade in rough diamonds.
(iv) Cooperation between the Indian company National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and the Russian company ACRON for development of potassium and magnesium deposits in Talitsky mine in Perm region of Russia and Partomchorr apatite-nepheline ore deposit (Murmansk region).
(v) Encouragement to investment proposals like establishment of a ‘Smart City’ in India by the Russian company (AFK ‘Sistema’); manufacture of lighting equipment for general and special purpose in Karnataka, by an affiliate of MGK Lighting Technologie, Russia; project of the Group of companies ‘Dauria Aerospace’ and ‘Aniara Communications Pvt. Ltd.’ concerning a group of telecommunication satellites ‘NextStar’ on geostationary orbit of the Earth on the basis of low budget platform; setting up of a 200-250 MW Power Plant at Ulan-Ude by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL); establishment of a joint venture in India for production of Cold-Rolled Grain Oriented (CRGO) silicon grade steel by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL) in collaboration with M/s NLMK of the Russian Federation; a Joint Supercomputer Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (JSCC RAS); collaboration on various applications of High Performance Computing (HPC) and supercomputing; and establishment of an India-Russia joint investment fund for supporting joint projects in the high technology sector, including transfer of technology.
(d) The decisions taken during the IGC Session would lead to further enhancement in bilateral relations as well as open new vistas for cooperation. These decisions would provide a firm basis for discussions during the Annual India-Russia Summit in December 2014.