India, Russia target $10 bn trade by 2010

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath today said India and Russia aim to achieve $10 billion trade by 2010, a five-fold growth from the current $2 billion bilateral trade.

Speaking at a business dinner, jointly organised by the chambers of commerce, with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Kamal Nath said the two countries were looking beyond traditional areas of trade. Auto-components, information technology, bio-technology, and management education would be the new areas in focus, he said.

Kamal Nath identified interaction between small and medium business enterprises of India and Russia as an area that needed special attention.

He also urged Indian industry to provide incentives to encourage more people to learn Russian, and thereby overcome the language barrier to deepening trade ties between the two countries.

"The Focus-CIS programme of the government opens several possibilities and our industry should use Russia as the gateway to the CIS. A MoU on cooperation was signed last month between India and Russia that mandates setting up of a joint study group to prepare an action plan within this year for achieving the desired increase in bilateral trade," said Nath, according to a release.