India, Russia move towards achieving $30 billion bilateral trade target

In a bid to enhance bilateral ties, India and Russia identified areas to strengthen their economic engagement.

The two countries have a target of $30 billion to achieve in the next 10 years.

In 2014, bilateral trade amounted to $9.51 billion. Indian exports touched $3.17 billion and imports from Russia $6.34 billion.

Chairing the 21st India-Russia Inter-Governmental Consultations, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin looked at ways to enhance the mutual direct investment to $15 billion by 2025.

Both the sides identified various sectors to achieve these commercial targets, which have been agreed upon by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met last year.

Areas including agriculture, pharmaceutical and infrastructure were identified by both sides to strengthen their economic engagement.

Other topics like space, energy, culture and science and technology were also discussed.

India also reiterated its commitment to work towards having 12 Russian nuclear plants as was agreed between Modi and Putin. Russia is an important partner for India in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.