India, Russia to step up space cooperation

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, JAN. 12.Russia and India will set up a working group on cooperation in space exploration, the Itar-Tass news agency has reported.

Itar-Tass quoted the Russian trade envoy in India as saying that the working group on space research will be established at an annual session of the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation, which will meet in Moscow next week under the co-chairmanship of the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Ilya Klebanov, and the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Singh.

The coming IGC meeting will highlight new areas of bilateral cooperation identified during the visit of the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, to India last October, said Mr. Yevgeny Isayev, Russia's trade representative in India. These include above all high-technologies, such as aviation, information technologies, space research and telecommunications. Diplomatic sources said a working group on computing technologies would also be set up at the IGC session.

The two sides are also planning to ink an accord on recognition of Russian flight safety and air worthiness standards, which will open the way to the leasing and export of Russian civil aircraft to India and their joint production in India.

Mr. Isayev said India was going to raise the issue of stable volumes of export to Russia of tea, tobacco, rice and other traditional Indian commodities, which are supplied in repayment of old Soviet rupee debts.

Meanwhile, Mr. Yashwant Singh, told Itar-Tass that the Indian delegation was taking to Moscow proposals for establishing new mechanisms to expand and diversify bilateral cooperation. He said India and Russia being strategic partners had no problems that could not be jointly resolved and voiced confidence in the success of the coming meeting.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Indian team to have interactive sessions
Next     : U.N. calls for thorough probe