The Nucleus of a Beautiful Friendship

By Tom Balmforth, Russia Profile | December 15, 2009 | No Comments

Russian president Dmitri Medvedev and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Russia gained a much sought-after foothold in India's nuclear energy sector, as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in Moscow on Dec. 7 to step up cooperation on civilian nuclear energy. India's delegation also left the negotiation table pleased after the two countries appeared to have ended the stalemate on Russia delivering a refurbished aircraft carrier to India. The delivery of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier has been delayed for two years by a price dispute that has soured relations. With this obstacle out of the way, could nuclear energy now become the foundation of a closer Russian-Indian relationship? "Today we have signed an agreement which broadens the reach of our cooperation beyond the supply of nuclear reactors to areas of research and development and a whole range of areas of nuclear energy," Prime Minister Singh told a Kremlin news conference, the BBC reported. "We have many projects in the energy sphere. A part of them, the larger part, is related to nuclear power engineering," Medvedev said. Singh called the nuclear power plant currently under Russian construction in Kundankulam in southern India "a symbol of our cooperation in civil nuclear energy," and revealed that Russia will build four new reactors in West Bengal. The agreement signed on Monday is worth several billion dollars, said Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Rosatom, the state-owned nuclear energy monopoly that will build the facilities. The two heads of state also signed a deal on "military-technical cooperation" for 2011 to 2012, which effectively means that India will remain (along with China) one of the largest customers for Russia's arms exports. Details of the arms deals negotiated on December 7 have not been released, but prior to the meeting officials expected Singh to sign weapons orders for as much as $1 billion, Reuters reported yesterday. The strength of the Russia-India relationship is built on its trade. After the deals were signed on Monday, Medvedev saw "great potential" for developing relations. Despite the financial crisis, trade between the two countries has continued to grow and hit $5.1 billion in the first nine months of 2009. Medvedev said at the

conference that he hoped it would reach $10 billion in 2010. "As early as next year we plan to reach a commodity turnover of $10 billion. But this is not the limit given our economies' potentials and the size of our markets," RIA Novosti quoted the Russian president as saying. The deal on nuclear cooperation will buttress high trade levels, bringing with it improved relations, analysts say. Yesterday Russia became the first country to capitalize after the lifting of an embargo on nuclear trade with India that had been in place since it acquired nuclear weapons in the late 1970s. The nuclear deal is therefore significant. Several countries have been vying for a place in energy-hungry India's civilian nuclear market, and according to Fyodor Lukyanov, editor in chief of Russia in Global Affairs, the deal could become the basis for a closer relationship. "This is definitely a chance to reestablish the old ties with India. I think this nuclear deal is a good opportunity," he said. "In general I would say the India-Russia relationship is now quite extensive. Russia is trying to recapitalize on the strong ties with India, which it inherited from the Soviet Union, but which we then lost in the 1990s because Russia was concentrating on itself and the West. A lot of opportunities emerging from our previous ties with India were lost," said Lukyanov. Russian-Indian cooperation on nuclear energy goes as far back as 1988, when the Soviets began building the Kudankulam nuclear reactor in southern India. However, the relationship cooled off during the 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed, as Russia became bogged down in its domestic upheaval. As a result, construction of the Kudankulam plant was put on hold. In 2002 Atomstroyexport, Russia's state-owned nuclear export company, resumed work on the nuclear power plant. And yesterday Kiriyenko said that the first reactor at the Kudankulam plant will be ready for use in 2010. So what is Russia's interest in India? "Russian leaders, for their part, have realized that global power is fast gravitating to the Asia-Pacific region, where India is an increasingly important player," Andrei Volodin of the Institute for Oriental Studies told the Hindu Times yesterday. India's decision to increase cooperation with Russia over other countries suggests that it favors Russia politically, said Lukyanov. To that extent Russia has a good chance of establishing itself as India's main partner on nuclear energy. But he is still convinced that Russia has the credentials as a supplier of technology and expertise to compete globally in what is an increasingly attractive sector for investors. "The problem is that politically, Russia has a good chance in India. But economically and technologically, I'm not so sure. To what extent is Russia able to provide India with all the services needed to build several power plants? This is the question, because Russian field capacity as I understand is rather limited," said Lukyanov. "Politically, the conditions are good for Russia, but as for technology, I don't know." Tags: India, India-Russia, Manmohan Singh, Nuclear power, Nuclear reactor technology, RIA Novosti, Sergei Kiriyenko, Soviet Union

Curries PR network adds firms in Russia, India Mon, Nov 22 2010

The global footprint of independent Australian public relations firm Currie Communications now covers Moscow and India. The largest privately-owned public relations company in Russia, CROS, and one of Indias leading agencies, Perfect Relations, join Curries international network, the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN), following a meeting of members in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, last week. We are thrilled to welcome Perfect and CROS to PRGN, said Curries Managing Director, Mark Paterson, who attended the meeting. The PRGN has experienced tremendous growth and the addition of these members provides additional strategic resources for our members clients. Currie is the Australian affiliate of the PRGN, a network of more than 40 owner-operated agencies on six continents, with 1200 people, 65 offices and revenues in excess of $US100 million. Founded in 1992, PRGN has a presence in 24 of the worlds top 30 GDP-ranked countries. The new PRGN member agencies are: CROS PR & Public Affairs, Moscow, the largest privately-own PR company in Russia. Since 1997, CROS has represented more than 500 Russian and foreign companies and state and public institutions. CROS has $14 million income annually, and has 80 employees. Established in Delhi in 1992, Perfect Relations is the single biggest resource in communications and business policy advice for Indias corporates, domestic and global, and is a full-service agency with 400 advisors over 18 locations and generates $US5 million income. Currie, whose clients include Australia Post, Coles, Australian Unity and Dairy Australia, is a member of the Public Relations Institute of Australias Registered Consultancies Group (Victoria) and is a preferred communications partner on state and federal government marketing panels.

India, Russia to sign 4 biz deals

Huma Siddiqui
Posted: Mar 10, 2010 at 2250

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New Delhi India and Russia are expected to sign four agreements in the fields of business and economy and one of the pacts includes fertilisers. Sources told FE that, during Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putins visit to New Delhi on Friday, a number of agreements in new areas of cooperation like fertilisers are likely to be inked. According to senior officials in the ministry of external affairs, Both sides have decided to give a fresh impetus to sluggish trade ties that remain below potential despite strong political ties between the two countries.

Several high-risk factors, including problems like visa issues, banking, connectivity and language barriers, are keeping the Indian industry away from Russia and lately, there has been a lot of concern about the sagging Indo-Russian trade and economic relations. According to officials, the indifferent attitude of Russian authorities towards Indian investors has not been helping the cause either. The visa facilitation agreement is also likely to be signed during Putin's two-day trip to India, his first as a Russian Prime Minister. According to the government figures, the total trade between India and Russia (2008-09) is $5.42 billion. With both the countries aiming to more than triple their bilateral trade to $20 billion by 2015, the visa facilitation agreement that has been finalised, is expected to encourage more contacts between businessmen of both the sides, sources said. According to this pact, Indian businessmen wishing to apply for a visa to Russia will require a certificate from one of the industry bodies confirming his bone fide credentials. The move could give a big boost to business ties between the two countries. Russia's strict visa regime was widely considered a major obstacle by Indian businessmen wishing to travel to that country to explore business opportunities. Both the countries will also sign an umbrella civil nuclear agreement after the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Putin. The pact was initiated during Singh's trip to Moscow in December last year. Sources however, said a second visa pact, due to long-standing Russian insistence on including a re-admission clause which stipulates India taking back those found travelling to Russia without valid papers, is not likely to be finalised during the talks as India is opposed to accepting any re-admission clause. New Delhi has made it clear that it will not sign a re-admission pact, as it does not have a common border with Russia and maintains that all the Indians were going to Russia on valid Indian passports and Russian entry visas. No one in Russia, except for government companies, is permitted to issue Visa support for a visit to interact with the targeted company. Even if a Russian company manages to send in the Visa support, it usually takes 3-8 weeks for the Russian foreign ministry to send permission for the embassy to issue the Visa. Indian small and medium-sized companies often face a problem in obtaining visas to visit Russia. Since the visa procedures are quite complicated, Indian exporters have harped on a simpler visa procedure. The talks between the two countries will also see a number of defence contracts, including the $2.34-billion deal for refit of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, the $1.2-billion deal for 29 more MiG-29K maritime fighters and the joint development of the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft are also on the list of agreements. Senior officials told FE, The establishment of institutional forums for deepening economic engagement and the renewed stress on trade and investment at the highest levels is a welcome beginning to a new level of partnership between India and Russia. The next few years should see consolidation of these efforts and elevation of private sector engagement in economic relations. Russia has the potential to become Indias next big trade and investment partner if the two sides forcefully engage with each other and iron out the barriers to free flow of goods and services into each others markets. Among the reasons cited for the stagnation of trade between India and Russia is the lack of information about each others markets, said sources. Economic relations have primarily been led by the two governments and public sectors. Transport facilitation is also a major concern in increasing trade, despite the India-Russia-Iran North-South Corridor in place since 2002. The Corridor reduces travel time for cargo by about a third, passing on the sea route from Mumbai through the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and from there via land transport to Russia. However, the transport corridor

has not significantly developed as an alternative route to the traditional land-sea route. Problems relating to infrastructure underdevelopment, lack of unified markets, transparency gaps, and governance issues have stunted the growth of economic and trade relations between the two sides.