Russian President Vladmir Putin said Saturday cooperation in high technology areas like atomic energy, space technology and IT could boost trade between his country and India.
Addressing captains of industry at an interactive business meeting here, Putin said Russia and India should leverage their technology skills and resources to enhance the bilateral trade manifold from the present low of $2 billion per annum.
Putin arrived here from New Delhi Saturday afternoon on a 21-hour visit.
"India has emerged as one of the top 10 leading countries in the world in many areas, especially IT, atomic energy and space technology.
"Hence, there is an urgent need to take our present trade level, dominated by raw materials and commodities, to higher levels by partnering and investing in each other's high technology areas," Putin declared.
Lauding the global reputation of Bangalore as India's IT capital, Putin said he was very happy to be here for a first hand account of the phenomenal progress its knowledge sector had made over the years.
"Ever since I learnt about Bangalore's emergence as one of the world's leading technology hub, I have been keen on visiting this great city for exploring new ties with its knowledge sector for mutual benefit.
"We should not be satisfied with our current level of trade nor its volume. Since both the countries know each other for long with no major political differences, we should strive to increase our cooperation by encouraging partnerships and exchange of people with a liberalized visa regime," Putin told about 300 corporate leaders.
Hailing India's recognition of Russia as a market economy, Putin said the decision was not only a positive development but also contributed to find new instruments to enhance joint trade and investment.
"One of our key tasks will be to increase high-tech products by investing part of the India debt with Russia in science and technology, as was discussed in New Delhi Friday.
"We should also expand our joint ventures from core sectors to electronics, IT, bio-technology and pharmaceuticals. There is enough scope to extend the relationship between the two countries to atomic energy and space," Putin maintained.
In this context, Putin suggested both countries jointly promote each other's products and technologies to be globally competitive and bid for other markets together.
--Indo-Asian News Service