India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar stated that India and Russia are in "advanced negotiations" for a new Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), which is required to increase investor trust. He also referred to India's relationship with Russia as one of the "steadiest" of all significant relationships in the world.
With annual bilateral trade having shot up to $45 billion this year, Jaishankar also called for addressing the growing trade imbalance. He made the remarks while addressing a business event that was also attended by Russian deputy PM and trade minister Denis Manturov.
“We need to work together with our Russian friends on a very urgent basis on how to address that imbalance. And addressing that imbalance really means addressing the impediments - whether they are market access impediments, whether they are non-tariff barriers, whether they are related to payments or to logistics,” Jaishankar said.
He also spoke with NSA Ajit Doval prior to the meeting. People with knowledge of the discussion between Doval and Manturov reported that both parties covered a wide range of bilateral matters to put the India-Russia strategic partnership into action.
Talking about economic cooperation in a strategic context, Jaishankar said the partnership with India was a subject of attention not because it had changed, but because it had not.
“Indeed, it has been among the steadiest of the major relationships of the world in the contemporary era. But that by itself is not enough. We share a commitment to a multi-polar world. And that also means a multipolar Asia. Russia is today looking much more towards Asia, a reassessment from its traditional focus. For India, this could mean a broadening of our engagement that was overly reliant on the triad of military, nuclear and space cooperation,” he said.