India, Russia for IT taskforce

India and Russia have agreed to set up an inter-governmental taskforce on Information Technology to help Indian companies tap the $7-billion Russian IT market.

The taskforce would also look into the different aspects on how Indo-Russian collaboration could bid for international projects.

Talking to mediapersons in Bangalore on Saturday, Leonid Reiman, Russian IT minister said: "We recently signed the agreement to set up the taskforce. The Indian IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran will visit Russia during next year to take this process forward."

Reiman said the IT taskforce will aim to improve business opportunities for IT companies in both the countries.

He said around 20 CEOs from top IT companies from Russia had accompanied Russian President Vladimir Putin to India. They had a high-level meeting at Infosys Technologies to understand how the process of collaboration could be taken forward between India and Russia.

On Sunday, Russian President Vladmir Putin called for India and Russia to work together on innovative new technologies. Addressing a gathering of Infosys employees, Putin spent nearly an hour at the Infosys campus before visiting Hindustan Aeronautics.

"India and Russia should work together on innovative new technologies. The younger generation should take the lead," Putin said.

According to Murthy, "India and Russia share several common values and have successfully leveraged each other's strengths across various industry sectors.

There are, however, avenues that remain unexplored. In order to progress further, we must focus on greater co-operation between the two nations. This calls for open-mindedness and a careful analysis of the economic benefits for both the countries.

Later, the Russian President was treated to a flying display of aircraft, designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd before leaving for Moscow on the conclusion of his 3-day visit to India.

Putin witnessed the 25-minute flying display, including aerobatics by the Light Combat Aircraft, Advanced Light Helicopter and the Intermediate Jet Trainer.

According to HAL chairman A K Baweja, Putin was impressed by the design and production capabilities of HAL after going around the static and flying display of these aircraft.

"We also had the honour of showing the Su-30 MKI (Sukhoi), the first Russian fighter jet indigenously built by our Nashik complex and handed over to the Indian Air Force last week," Baweja said.

Baweja added that Putin showed keen interest in knowing more about the Indo-Russian defence cooperation, especially in the aviation sector.