Russia has been a longstanding and time-tested partner for India. On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and suggested that Russia can draw inspiration from the success stories of its partners, such as India, to promote the growth of its own domestic industries.
The “Make in India” initiative is based on four pillars, which have been identified to give a boost to entrepreneurship in India, not only in manufacturing but also in other sectors.
Putin made these remarks on Tuesday while speaking at the Plenary session of the 8th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, a major port city in sanctions-hit Russia’s Far East region.
Praising the policies in the Russian port town of Vladivostok, Putin said that PM Modi is just doing the “right thing”.
While responding to a question on Russian-made cars, Putin said, ‘You know, we did not have domestically made cars then, but we do now. It is true that they look more modest than Mercedes or Audi cars, which we bought in vast amounts in the 1990s, but this is not an issue. I think that we should emulate many of our partners, for example, India.’ Prime Minister Modi launched the ‘Make in India’ campaign in 2014 to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property & build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure.
“They are focused on the manufacture and use of Indian-made vehicles. I think that Prime Minister Modi is doing the right thing in promoting the Make in India programme. He is right,” Putin said.
He further added that it is absolutely fine to use Russian-made automobiles.
“We have (Russian-made) automobiles, and we must use them; this is absolutely fine. This will not lead to any infringements of our WTO obligations, absolutely not. It will concern state purchases. We must create a certain chain regarding what cars different classes of officials can drive so that they will use domestically-made cars,” he stated.
Putin also said that the ‘India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor’ (IMEC) will in no way affect Russia. In fact, it will benefit the country.
During the G20 Summit in New Delhi, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) was launched.
On Saturday, the ambitious was IMEC jointly announced by the leaders of the US, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union on the sidelines of the summit in New Delhi.
Putin did not personally attend the G20 summit because of his “busy schedule”.
“I think it is for our good; it will help us develop logistics,” Putin said while responding to a question about whether the IMEC initiative will affect the implementation of Russia’s and Chinese projects and what it means for Russia in general.
“First, this project (IMEC) has been discussed for a long time, maybe for the past several years. Truth be told, the Americans joined it at the last minute. But I do not really see why they would want to be part of it, except maybe in terms of some business interest.”
Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal lead an Indian delegation. Taking to X (Formerly known as Twitter), Sonowal wrote, “The Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok is an excellent opportunity to further cooperation. Had a fruitful discussion regarding exploration of our maritime potential. Also, it was wonderful to interact with Russia Dy PM Alexei Overchuk at the Plenary Session of #EEF.”
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