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Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought India’s participation in the Geneva II dialogue process scheduled to be held in November, a senior official said, at the annual summit between the leaders of Russia and India. The Russian President said that he would welcome India’s participation in Geneva– II, when he met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
While both countries expressed support for the early convening of an ‘International Conference on Syria’ (Geneva-II), to take forward the Geneva-I Communiqué adopted in June 2012, the Indian PM particularly commended Russia’s role in working towards a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict. Both Russia and India support the process of placing Syria’s chemical weapons under international control and their destruction in accordance with the decision of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
With the UN process floundering in Syria until President Putin’s recent intervention brokering a deal with the US to avert possible military strikes in that war-ravaged country, the Russian president’s international standing has been considerably enhanced. This would give his invitation to India to participate in the dialogue to resolve the Syrian impasse a certain gravitas and acceptance.
After Putin’s deal with the US, and Syria’s compliance, a joint mission of the United Nations and the OPCW has adhered to the agreed timeline for destroying Syria’s chemical weapons.
(According to UN Secretary General Ban-ki-Moon, there is recognition that there can be no military solution to the Syrian crisis, as India has consistently maintained. Ban’s Special Envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi is in contact with key regional actors and parties over the Geneva II conference.)
Also, “Negotiations on the Kudankulam 3&4 nuclear power reactors, a joint Indian-Russian project are in the final stages and are likely to be complete soon”, said Ajay Bisaria, Joint Secretary of the Eurasia Division of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. This reaffirms the commitment to implement the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of India on the Enhancement of Cooperation in energy; nuclear as well as in the hydrocarbons sector.
Speaking at the 2nd SIIS – IRGA Dialogue on Indo – Russian relations on Monday (28th October), Bisaria said that the bilateral interaction between Putin and Singh had a great deal of continuity. Both the leaders welcomed the continuing momentum of high-level bilateral contacts and intense dialogues that had taken place and had identified four major areas of concern – Cooperation in Central Asia and South Asia – particularly Afghanistan; peace and stability in the Gulf and West Asia – particularly Syria; the regional security architecture in the Asia Pacific region; and in the Multilaterals that are “proliferating” – particularly those like the G20 and BRICS groups.
PM Manmohan Singh who was in Moscow for the 14th India – Russia Annual Summit held talks with the Russian President on defence, trade and nuclear cooperation. This meeting between the two leaders also saw the outlining of a clear vision of where the bilateral relationship is headed, by the Indian Prime Minister, wherein he evoked the emotional and historical legacy of the ties, from the Soviet era onwards. Speaking at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (where budding Russian diplomats are trained) Singh said India has the closest relations with Russia, making it a priority for Indian foreign policy.
“India has benefited enormously,” the PM said in his address, “from Russian support in every aspect of India's national development efforts – be it the development of heavy industry, the power sector, our space programme or in meeting our defence needs. Most importantly, Russia has stood by India at moments of great international challenge, when our own resources were limited and our friends were few.”
According to Bisaria, there is a good possibility that India could become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation or SCO as it is popularly known. A Eurasian political, economic and military organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, the countries may be willing to extend their mandate and evolve a common multilateral foreign policy, concerning Afghanistan. The Russian Federation commended India’s active participation in the SCO as an observer state and has reiterated its strong support for India's bid for full membership of the SCO.
In terms of promoting trade, both sides agreed that investment collaboration was an important component of economic cooperation, which could also help in increasing bilateral investment and trade. The leaders agreed that there is significant potential for cooperation in sectors such as oil and gas, pharmaceutical and medical industry, infrastructure, mining, automobiles, fertilizers, aviation, as well as in modernization of industrial facilities located in the two countries.
India also noted the importance of cooperation in order to organize long-term supplies of hydrocarbons to from Russia, while exploring possibilities of direct transportation of hydrocarbons from Russia to India through the land route.
India and Russia have reaffirmed the obligation to vanquish terrorism from their territories and areas under their control. It is essential to irreversibly shut down terrorist networks, organizations and infrastructure while bringing to justice all those responsible for acts of terrorism.
The Dialogue saw participation by several distinguished former and serving diplomats who discussed the relationship between India and Russia within a complex and changing global scenario.
Former Ambassador I. P. Khosla was of the opinion that China and Pakistan are major concerns for both India and Russia. He also spoke of terrorist activities originating from Afghanistan as a problem that needs to be curbed.
Former MEA Secretary Rajiv Sikri spoke of the scope and limitations of bilateral trade, joint military exercises as well as the drawbacks of the Nuclear Liability Bill, while pointing out that no other country would have extended the levels of strategic cooperation that Russia has to India. Particularly, he gave the examples of the nuclear submarine (Chakra) and cooperation for India’s indigenous nuclear submarine, the Arihant, and the ‘stealth’ frigates.
Nandan Unnikrishnan, Vice President in ORF's Centre for International Relations, spoke about the growth of science and technology in India acknowledging Russia’s role in it.
The Dialogue saw extensive information being exchanged, while also identifying major problems of concern between India and Russia. Relations between the two countries have reached a level of maturity, allowing both to accept the reality of relations in the changing global scene, while reiterating their commitment to restore the primacy of the bilateral relationship in their foreign policies.