Indian companies are actively weighing the prospects of “localization of production” in Russia’s Far East and Arctic regions, Moscow says.
Alexei Chekunkov, Russia’s Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, held talks with Indian company representatives in New Delhi on Monday, according to an official statement.
The statement underlined that discussions between Chekunkov and the Indian delegates focussed on expanding trade, economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian cooperation between New Delhi and Moscow in the Far East and the Arctic.
Chekunkov arrived in the Indian capital on Monday ahead of the Russia—India Business Forum: Strategic Partnership for Development and Growth scheduled for 29-30 March in New Delhi.
The forum is part of the foreign event programs under the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which will take place later this year.
India’s Growing Interest in Russia’s Far East
India has been looking to ramp up its economic presence in Russia’s Far East since Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attended the Vladivostok-hosted Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in 2019.
A joint statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Modi after the EEF event “expressed satisfaction with the cooperation” between the two countries in the development of the Far East region.
India also announced a line of credit for its companies wanting to invest in the region, which New Delhi says would provide impetus to its ‘Act Far East Policy’.
Since 2021, Indian petroleum and coal firms have expressed growing interest in the resource-rich region.
A business delegation led by Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri and made up of delegates from major Indian companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh (OVL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) also visited the Sakhalin site in 2019.
To note, New Delhi has a 20-percent stake in the Sakhalin-I energy project.