Sister cities: Moscow and Delhi agree to push for more economic engagement

Senior officials from Moscow and Delhi have agreed to work towards broadening the economic engagement between the two sister cities. The sides discussed the inter-city cooperation at a session of the Business Council for Cooperation with India that was held in Moscow on April 12, a day before the 70^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and India.

At the session, Sergei Cheremin, head of the Department of Foreign Economic Relations of the Moscow government, spoke about the work of the council over the past 12 months. The council’s members had agreed a year earlier to work on promoting tie-ups in the pharmaceutical, energy and digital trading industries. Cheremin said he hoped that an agreement would be signed between Moscow and Delhi about the cooperation in 2018-20.

Mutual economic projects and a new TV channel

“This year we are planning to the work on international business projects and in the organization of business missions,” Vladimir Padalko, the vice president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said at the session. “We are also planning to attract more partners from India and to intensify the work in the profile committees of our council.”

India is not only New Delhi, Russia is not only Moscow

Padalko also mentioned that a new TV channel called Big Asia was going to be launched in June. This channel will be dedicated to Asian countries including India. The channel will focus on news, cultural, political and economic issues in Asia.

The founders of the channel hope that it will be a media platform that helps Russians understand India better.

Strengthening old ties

Vikram Singh Punia, head of pharmaceutical company Pharmasynthez compared the relationship between Russia and India with two classmates who moved to different countries after graduation and have different interests now, but still preserve close friendly ties.

“Our countries need to preserve and develop business contacts,” he said. “Indian pharmaceutical companies can share their experience with their Russian colleagues, and at the same time successful Russian medical practices can be implemented in India.”  

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