Modi's Visit to Boost India-Russia Cooperation in Far East, Indian Ocean: Experts

The 22nd Russia-India Annual Summit will lead to a greater collaboration between the two countries in Russian Far East and the Eurasian space, including the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), according to experts.

The 81-paragraphbilateral Joint Statement underscored the "shared vision" to enhance transport and connectivity cooperation, as well as a "solid commitment" to enhance economic linkages in Russia's resource-rich Far East, Pravesh Kumar Gupta, an Associate Fellow at New Delhi-based think tank Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), told Sputnik India.

The 22nd Annual Summit, a "unique and pivotal event in the current global geopolitical context" according to Gupta, exposed the disappointment of Western countries.

"Amidst global turbulence, the summit served as a crucial platform for leaders to engage in constructive discussions and strategic dialogues, with the aim of bolstering cooperation in vital areas such as trade, energy, connectivity, defence, and technology. This event has been widely acknowledged as a significant milestone in the ongoing development of the close ties between India and Russia, a success that stood in stark contrast to the disappointment felt by the Western world," the Indian think-tanker asserted.

Lauding the Summit outcomes, Gupta remarked that the leaders would intensify effort to develop "promising production and marketing chains in Eurasia" and stick to the new plan for the Far East in providing enhanced cooperation in different sectors, including transport and connectivity.

Specifically both leaders shared a vision pointing to three projects – International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Chennai-Vladivostok Corridor as well as the Northern Sea Route (NSR), or the Polar Route.

"Most importantly, these connectivity projects are free from any political agenda, unlike the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as clearly mentioned in the joint statement. Their implementation will be based on the principles of transparency, broad participation, local priorities, financial sustainability, and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations," the VIF pundit underlined.

Gupta expressed confidence that the proposal to establish a joint working group on developing the NSR would speed up the project, which promised "significant cost savings and reduced shipping times" for goods traveling between Europe and Asia.

"The route's increased accessibility due to melting Arctic ice has sparked increased interest in its potential for commercial shipping and trade, offering a bright future for global trade," Gupta stated.

In the context of the INSTC, the expert underscored that it could turn out to be the most "cost-effective and favourable" connectivity project to increase Indian exports to Eurasia and vice-versa. He explained that the 7,200-kilometre-long multimodal corridor was in line with Moscow's geoeconomic focus on Asia-Pacific following the Ukraine conflict.

Russia, India to Implement the Idea of a 'Greater Eurasian space'

In terms of bolstering cooperation in Asia-Pacific, or near India's own neighbourhood, Modi and Putin shared approaches on building a "new architecture" of a 'Greater Eurasian space'.

Although, initially Russia was focused primarily on the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa, the Ukrainian conflict completely changed the situation, Alexey Kupriyanov, an expert in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) at Moscow-based think tank IMEMO RAS told Sputnik India.

At the same time, the think-tanker highlighted that a growing trade turnover between Russia and India was pushing Moscow to return to the Indian Ocean Region, primarily to ensure the protecting of Russian vessels in areas not covered by Indian Navy's operations, which include the Red Sea and the Mediterranean region.

"In the long term, this means that Russian ships will soon operate more intensively in the Indian Ocean and expand their presence," Kupriyanov stressed.

It would bolster India's security efforts and help it manage the power competition between China and the US, even as Indian Navy has intensified inter-operability with western maritime forces in recent years, the expert asserted.

"Since India's focus is primarily on the eastern part of the region, Russian ships in the western part could help fill the vacuum of security there. This will reduce the need for East African countries to seek help from China and the US to combat pirates, smugglers and drug traffickers," Kupriyanov concluded.

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