Rustem Khamitov met with the Ambassador of India in Russia P.S. Raghavan

UFA, 3 February 2015. /Bashinform News Agency, Iliya Spiridonov/. On February 2, at the House of the Republic the Head of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of India in the Russian Federation P.S. Raghavan. The parties discussed prospects of industrial, trade and economic cooperation.

“The volume of trade between India and Bashkortostan business grows. Last year it was 400 million dollars. This is two times more than it was in 2013. It would be good to increase this figure twofold,” the Head of the Region marked.

Rustem Khamitov and P.S. Raghavan identified the areas where Bashkortostan and India could cooperate successfully.

“We are interested in attracting investors from your country. We could consider such areas of cooperation as production of medicines, construction of a plant to produce basic infusion solutions in plastic packaging. We are ready to provide the most favourable conditions for work”, the Head of the Republic said. “India is a global manufacturer and supplier of cotton fabrics, yarn, leather. Bashkortostan consumers are interested in purchasing these items. We also have a decent timber industry. There are attractive projects in agriculture. Of course, we are interested in cooperation with business in your country.”

“We consider such areas of cooperation as pharmaceuticals, information technology, agriculture. These sectors offer a huge range of opportunities for economic cooperation between the Republic of Bashkortostan and India”, the Ambassador of India told the journalists after the meeting. “Another area is education, where we can do a lot. Today 65 students from India study in the universities of Bashkortostan. We can do more in this area, creating joint research projects, conducting exchanges of students.”

The parties agreed that the SCO and BRICS Summits to be held in Ufa in July 2015 would contribute to strengthening the partnership between Bashkortostan and India. P. S. Raghavan expressed his confidence that economic cooperation should be expanded not only at the country level, but also at the regional level.

“I know that the Republic of Bashkortostan wants to establish twin-region relations with the State of Haryana in India. I fully support it and I think that this is a wonderful occasion to establish good contacts. We will do whatever is necessary to establish these relationships and strengthen them,” the Ambassador said.

India's share in the republican foreign trade is 3 percent (seventh place). During the first 11 months of 2014 the volume of trade amounted to $ 397.6 million, with more than 95 percent of this amount falling on exports.

Bashkortostan mainly exports to India various equipment, fertilizers and other chemical products including rubber, ferrous metals and other commodities.

India imports to Bashkortostan equipment, chemical and pharmaceutical products, products from ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Ten joint ventures with participation of Indian capital mainly engaged in the wholesale trade are created in the territory of our republic.