Russia and India Sign Economic and Defense PactsJanuary 07, 2011
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, and India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, signed several economic and defense agreements during a meeting in New Delhi last month. The Russian president was the latest leader from a country with a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council to visit India in 2010. So far, all the other countries with permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council—the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China—have visited to India to strengthen their economic ties to this South Asian nation which has the fastest-growing major economy after China, The Wall Street Journal reported. India's great ambition is to join that exclusive group with a permanent seat and the country has leveraged its growing appeal as a trading partner to win support. Medvedev said he endorsed India's U.N. ambitions, saying, “Russia considers India a strong and deserving candidate to have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.” He also agreed to give India better access to Russia's oil and gas industry. In return, New Delhi will boost its trade with Russia by buying defense and civilian nuclear equipment, according to the Journal. The two countries also agreed to jointly design and develop a fifth generation jet fighter. The plane could be ready as early as 2020 and would be collaboration between India's state-run Hindustan Aeronautics and Russia's Sukhoi Design Bureau and Rosoboronexport State Corp., according to the article. India wants to double its military spending over the next six years and is in the market to buy 126 fourth-generation fighter jets. Rather than simply exporting defense products to India, Russia has been emphasizing a joint development of military equipment with India. The end result Russia is hoping for, according to the article, is improving the odds of immediate sales. The United States, United Kingdom and France are also in competition. |
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