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Manmohan to visit Russia in Dec
by N Bhadran Nair

     Moscow: India and Russia will sign several far- reaching agreements during the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to Moscow in December. External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh told reporters that these include agreements on defence Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), utilization of Rupee-Debt, agreement on Russia's accession to WTO, relaxation of visa regime, agreement on prevention of illicit trafficking of drugs and narcotics substances and understanding on setting up of a joint study group to strengthen trade and economic cooperation. A defence cooperation between the two countries was held up as Moscow insisted on India signing an IPR, after India's military ties with the United States had dramatically increased over the past two years, and New Delhi has been shopping for some of the advanced military wares from Israel. India's Ambassador to Russia Kawal Sibal said: "both sides have to work very hard to make it to the signing table", adding that even if all these agreements were not ready for signature, discussions during the interregnum would cover substantial areas to narrow down the differences.

     Natwar Singh, who held extensive talks with President Vladimr Putin at his farmhouse Novogorevio, on the outskirts of the city, said, India favoured joint development, manufacturing and marketing of high tech defence equipment, as in the case of Brahmos missiles. Singh said Russia was supportive of India's nuclear programme at the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) and even the United States was helping in better understanding of the Indian position. "I will not be able to elaborate on details," he said. "We shared satisfaction at our long-standing excellent political ties," said Singh, adding, "we also briefly touched upon some economic matters of immediate relevance in the context of our overall strategic partnership". With the cold-war era knocked down, Indo-Russian economic relations have also undergone tremendous transformation. "The economic reforms have obviously enhanced the role of the business sector in this relationship," he said. Singh said that in the present scenario, both the governments should be "actively facilitating contacts and creating conditions for closer interaction aimed at greater trade and investments". "While traditional areas require further impetus, we have identified some new areas for substantive joint action, like information technology, biotechnology, commercialisation of Russian or jointly developed technologies, and some frontier areas of Science and Technology," said Singh.

    Both the sides are also expected to sign an agreement to dissolve the rupee debt by reinvesting the current liability of about 2.5 billion US dollars for investments in projects in India and Russia. The Joint Task Force on the subject is also meeting in Delhi simultaneously, to look into some of the pending issues raised by India, like the non-settlement of claims of Steel Authority of India and Shipping Corporation of India. The External Affairs Minister said India would sign a bilateral agreement on Russia's accession to WTO. The Russian side had expressed concern over the delay at the Inter Governmental Commission, which was co-chaired by Natwar Singh along with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov.

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