Mumbai, 6 Dec (KNN) For the upcoming 21st India-Russia summit, Russian President resident Vladimir Putin will arrive in India today and apart from military, defence and maritime cooperation, both the countries are expected to discuss bilateral ties in trade, investment, science & technology, said a press release.

After extensively researching on India-Russia ties, the MVIRDC World Trade Center (WTC) Mumbai has said, the Summit may focus on MSME ties between India and Russia, as it can help us attain USD 30 billion trade target by 2025.

Some of the key focus area for India will be energy security as India is a net importer of crude oil and natural gas, and India has offered USD 1 billion Line of Credit to promote joint projects in the energy rich Far East region of Russia, said the media release.

Further, the WTC Mumbai has proposed two suggestions to promote India’s exports to Russia.

One is the setting up of India[1]Russia MSME Forum to create awareness opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in both the sides about the untapped trade opportunities. India can invite its 500-odd Indian businessmen who are based in Russia to become active partners of this forum.

It has also advised such a forum to conduct virtual buyer-seller meetings, knowledge sessions and workshops on quality certifications and other export regulations in Russia. Such a forum can also conduct vendor development programs to prepare Indian MSMEs to become suppliers of input materials to Russian companies.

Secondly, both the countries may expedite the negotiation on free trade agreement between India and Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). In 2017, India and EAEU agreed to begin negotiation for this trade agreement. A joint feasibility study conducted in 2016 found that such an agreement will provide fillip to bilateral trade between India and EAEU, which has a population of more than 170 million.

At the 20th Annual Summit, held in Russia in 2019, both the countries set an ambitious target of trebling bilateral trade to USD 30 billion by 2025. Such a lofty target can be attained only if we create awareness about trade opportunities among MSMEs and also remove tariff and non-tariff barriers by signing free trade agreement.