Favouring exploration of avenues by India and Russia for generating and meeting demand on a regional and global basis, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday said the two should also avail of opportunities in each other's country for broadbasing investment flows.
"There is huge untapped potential not only for an exponential growth of bilateral trade and investment, but also for jointly exploring other markets through pooling of resources," he told a joint meeting of Indian and Russian businesspersons in Moscow.
Observing that Indian firms were looking for investment abroad, the prime minister said: "It is time that Indian and Russian firms availed of more opportunities in each other's country."
Giving the example of major bilateral investments -- Sakhalin Oilfield in Russia and Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India -- reflecting mutual collaboration, he said: "We need to broad-base investment flows. This also needs closer links between our banks and financial institutions."
"The establishment of commercial branches of banks in each other's country should be a priority goal," he said.
The meeting was attended by nearly 100 senior Indian businesspersons who are in Moscow to give fresh impetus to the sagging bilateral trade which has now plummetted to under $1.5 billion.
Upbeat over the 'new dynamism' in the Indian economy, Vajpayee vowed to re-double the GDP growth in less than a decade and declared New Delhi's support to Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation to 'balance and strengthen' multilateral trade.
"In the last ten years, (India's) GDP doubled and we hope to re-double it in less than a decade," he told the captains of Indian and Russian industry.
Stressing that Indo-Russia economic ties have extended to multilateral forums, Vajpayee said both the countries supported the strengthening of multilateral institutions to sustain 'balanced and equitable global economic order' responsive to their needs.
"We have actively supported Russia's accession to WTO, not only in the spirit of our strategic partnership but also in the firm belief that Russia's membership would bring balance and strength to WTO," the prime minister said.
India and Russia, he said, could play an important role in concert with other major emerging markets in encouraging WTO to operate for the common benefit of all its member countries.
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