On Dec 20, Ronen Sen, the former Indian Ambassador to Russia, the U.K. Germany and the United States, released Gateway House’s report on re-energising the India-Russia relationship. The report, authored by Gateway House’s Russia Studies Fellow Dr. Katherine Foshko, pointed out the necessity of reinvigourating, through robust private sector co-operation, an old and loyal relationship that had lain dormant for too long.
Members present at the meeting pointed to some of the difficulties and opportunities of the India-Russia partnership: language was a deterrent, though technology can overcome that issue, as was a ‘cold economic analysis’ of the Russian market to enable the private sector to step in. But Russia can be a crucial partner in India’s quest for food security, and greater people-to-people and a deepening of cultural relations will help re-engage the two countries.
The Russian Consul General in Mumbai, endorsed the recommendations of the report. He emphasised the “privileged, strategic” nature of the Indo-Russian partnership. He pointed out that Russia shares its latest weapons to India, while they sell a previous generation of weapons to China, and that India needs energy for its economy to thrive – energy that Russia can provide. Russia supported the TAPI pipeline which will boost India’s growth, and urged India to move quickly on policy decisions regarding energy co-operation in the region, and on increasing India-Russia trade through increased private sector engagement – the latter being one of the key suggestions of the India-Russia report.