Small and medium enterprises could provide the new generation of growth in Indo-Russian trade and help increase business between the two countries to $10 billion by the year 2010, Commerce Secretary S N Menon has said.
Menon is leading a nine-member multi-sectoral Indian delegation for the first two-day session of Joint Study Group set up at the initiative of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin to give a new fillip to the trade between the two countries which has been hovering at around $2 to 3 billion.
"The small and medium enterprises could give the new generation of growth in bilateral relations and the trade basket could be expanded by including auto components, polymers and plastics, besides IT and IT enabled services," Menon said at the round-table meeting of the JSG with the Moscow-based Indian Business Alliance.
He said the goal of the JSG is to prepare the report for the top leadership of the two countries before the January summit in New Delhi suggesting ways for lifting barriers impeding the bilateral trade. From the Russian side the JSG is co-chaired by Mikhail Dmitriyev, President of the Centre for Strategic Research of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of the Russian Federation.
Talking to PTI at a reception hosted by the Indian Business Alliance, Menon and Dmitriyev noted the information gap and visa problems as major constraints in the growth of business to business ties between the two countries.
Menon said if the hurdles are removed and new players step in, the bilateral trade could easily go up to $20 billion mark.
According to Dmitriye, the situation in Indo-Russian trade is similar to what it was in Sino-Russian trade five years back, when it was only $5 billion.
"Today our bilateral trade with China has crossed $25-billion mark and is slated to reach $30-billion. That is why we are now preparing a programme for India, similar to the one we had prepared for boosting trade with China," Dmitriyev said.
Agreeing with Menon, he said according to optimistic estimates the trade could grow to $20 billion. The JSG, which has been sub-divided in three sectors -- goods, services and finance is to hold the next brainstorming session in India in October in order to complete its report by the January summit when President Vladimir Putin would be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations.
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