SME Times News Bureau | 09 Aug, 2019
Union Minister of
Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal will lead a delegation of Chief Ministers of
States and business representatives to Vladivostok in the Russian Far East from
11-13 August 2019, to explore investment opportunities and strike close
partnerships with the Far East provinces.
The delegation
includes Chief Ministers of Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh and
an official from the State of Assam.
The Chief
Ministers of States will be accompanied by business delegations who will engage
with officials and businessmen from the provinces in Russia’s eastern most
territory.
The Commerce and Industry Minister’s visit is a
precursor to the visit of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modito Vladivostok in
early September for the 5th edition of the Eastern Economic
Forumwhere he will be the chief guest for the 20th edition of the
Forum.
It is an international forum held every year in
Vladivostok, Russia, to support the economic development of Russia’s Far East
region and to expand international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific
region.
This visit by
Piyush Goyal will set the stage for further strengthening of bilateral ties
betweenthe two countries and also see major announcements on collaborative
projects for the economic success of theFar East region of Russia.
India is looking
to gain from the investment-friendly Russian stance in the natural
resource-rich region, which includes significant incentives and tax breaks
allowing Indian investments and labour for projects. Indian entities are
already engaged in key sectors like power, coal, oil and gas, and this visit by
India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, along with the delegation, will
increase India’s footprint in the region further.
The delegation
includes more than 125 representatives from business stakeholders, who will
interact with Russian counterparts on opportunities in the mining and
processing of diamond and other rare metals, railways, agriculture, fisheries
and food processing, oil and gas, forestry and timber, coal and power,
ceramics, tourism, ship building, technical education, healthcare, and pharma
sectors and Ayurveda.
Commerce and
Industry Minister will also explore new areas of cooperation and ensure that
India’s participation at the Eastern Economic Forum is meaningful.
The delegation accompanying
Piyush Goyalwill identify and scope out and work on potential areas of business
collaboration in this region of Russia. Russia’s Far East offers an important
area for use of India’s skilled man power to develop the region that is vast
and under populated.
Russia ranks first
in the world for oil and natural gas production, exports of steel, primary
aluminum and nitrogen fertilizers. Russia is also the largest in terms of
reserves of tin, zinc, titanium, niobium, nickel, iron ore, drinking water,
natural gas, wood, diamonds and silver.
Russia has the
longest railways in the world -the Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway
in the world of 87,157 kilometers.
It is hoped that
this visit of Piyush Goyal will mark the beginning of the process where both
countries move away from a buyer-seller relationship to one where there is
technology transfer,Make in India, job creation and content creation in India.