In the course of Delhi: India announced group visa-free travel with Russia
Russia and India are planning to introduce a visa-free regime for 30 days for tourist groups. This became known on December 5 following the results of bilateral negotiations during Vladimir Putin's state visit to the republic. According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this will not only bring the peoples closer together, but will also give a new impetus to the development of relations between the countries. The economy is already booming. Thus, Moscow and New Delhi announced work on an agreement on a free trade zone between India and the EAEU. Against this background, trade between the two countries will be able to increase from $65 billion to $100 billion by 2030, Vladimir Putin is confident. Modi called energy security an important basis of the partnership. The Russian president reassured his colleague: the Russian Federation is ready to continue to ensure uninterrupted fuel supply. What is symbolic of this visit and what does the new cartoon have to do with it — in the Izvestia article.
How did the Russian-Indian negotiations begin?
In New Delhi, December 5 was the main day of Vladimir Putin's state visit to India. The central event is the high—level negotiations. However, before them, according to tradition, is the official ceremony of the meeting of the heads of state. Accompanied by the horse guards, Vladimir Putin arrived at the presidential Palace in his Aurus, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had met his Russian counterpart at the ramp the day before, and President Draupadi Murmu were already waiting for him. It is noteworthy that this visit can be called symbolic for both countries.
The Aurus car of the motorcade of Russian President Vladimir Putin enters the square in front of the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, accompanied by an honorary horse guard.
— Your current visit, dear Mr. President, has a truly historic significance. Exactly 25 years ago, you visited India for the first time as President of the Russian Federation and laid the foundations of our strategic partnership. This is also an important event for me personally, because we have known each other for 25 years," Modi said.
Putin also managed to visit the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the Indian people in the struggle for national liberation. He arrived at the Rajghat complex, which literally translates as "tsar's pier". Visitors traditionally take off their shoes here: the Russian president did the same. The complex itself is surrounded by a garden, and all the trees here were planted by heads of foreign states and governments: for example, Mikhail Gorbachev did it in 1986, and Vladimir Putin in 2000.
The subsequent Russian-Indian talks at the government's Hyderabad Palace, in a narrow and then expanded format, turned out to be fruitful and eventful, although the leaders had time to discuss many issues face-to-face the day before. According to Putin, the talks "were held in a constructive and friendly atmosphere in the spirit of a particularly privileged partnership."
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting in New Delhi
— As for our relations, they really have a very deep historical character, no matter how we characterize it, no matter what epithets we decorate it with, something else is important — the content is important. And the content is very deep. We value this very much. And we see that you, dear Mr. Prime Minister, are also paying a lot of personal attention to this," said Vladimir Putin.
Given the scale of both countries and the close level of relations, the leaders could not but touch upon the Ukrainian issue at the talks. Vladimir Putin spoke in detail about the course of the special operation and separately focused on the negotiation track with the United States. India also reaffirmed its commitment to peaceful dialogue and its willingness to help achieve it.
Economic and energy prospects
Basically, it was about trading. Thus, the partners agreed to provide a program of economic cooperation until 2030. According to Modi, this will make the investments of the two countries more diversified and balanced, and according to Putin, it will have a positive impact on trade turnover. Last year, it increased by 12% and now reaches about $64-65 billion, but there is every chance of bringing it to $100 billion in 2030, the head of the Russian Federation is convinced. At the same time, the share of national currencies in mutual settlements between Russia and India is also growing and in commercial transactions is already 96%. The future agreement on a free trade zone between India and the EAEU will also give an impetus. "Work on the relevant agreement is already underway," Vladimir Putin stressed.
— Now the main task is to increase Indian exports of consumer goods to Russia in order to equalize the trade balance, in which Indian exports account for a very small part. Moscow seeks to balance it, including through access for Indian goods to the EAEU market through the Russian Federation," economist Valery Korneev explained to Izvestia.
The FTA agreement will also strengthen the positions of medium and small enterprises, said Piyush Goyal, head of the Indian Ministry of Trade and Industry. Among the promising areas, he named manufacturing, agriculture, electronics, textile industry and pharmaceuticals.
The leaders also discussed this issue at the plenary session of the Russian-Indian business forum. Vladimir Putin stressed that the Russian delegation had come not only to talk about energy and sign contracts for the supply of oil or gas. The aim of the negotiations is to develop multifaceted relations with India in various areas. The country's economy is one of the fastest growing in the world. The figures speak for themselves: in 10 years, the republic's GDP has almost doubled, and at purchasing power parity — 2.5 times.
Today, Russian business in India is much more widely represented than Indian business in Russia, the chairman of VEB told Izvestia. Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov. According to him, in order to eliminate this imbalance, it is necessary to ensure the supply of goods from India to the Russian market and ensure their further success. "It is necessary, even from the point of view of cultural enrichment of each other, to seriously address this issue. Business culture, among other things, will be the main development of these investments," concluded Shuvalov.
Nevertheless, despite the new prospects, the import of Russian energy resources remains the most important issue. So much so that on the main day of the visit, TV broadcast an ironic cartoon where the leaders of Russia and India ride together on a motorcycle near oil rigs. Next in the frame are two gas stations designated as "Russia" and "USA", and next to the "American" one is Donald Trump. The Indian leader refuels a motorcycle from a Rossiya gas station and drives away, leaving Trump fuming. This is a clear reference to the aggressive policy of the United States, which has imposed tariffs on India for purchases of Russian oil. Narendra Modi confirmed at the talks that energy security remains a very important core of the partnership between Russia and India.
Vladimir Putin reassured his colleague and stressed that the Russian Federation is ready to continue providing uninterrupted fuel supply. Thus, bringing the Kudankulam NPP to full capacity will make a significant contribution to India's energy supply and will help supply enterprises and households with inexpensive energy, the president said. The nuclear power plant is located in southern India, and it is provided with fuel by Rosatom.
Humanitarian cooperation between Russia and India
The leaders also talked a lot about humanitarian cooperation. Modi announced that the parties are preparing to introduce a 30-day visa-free regime.
— I am sure that we will soon begin the road to providing a 30-day visa-free regime for tourist groups, and this will strengthen our capabilities in terms of people's movement, because it will help us not only to bring relations between our peoples closer, it will give new strength to our countries and provide new opportunities for us.- said the prime minister.
Now, Russians need to apply for an electronic (e-Visa) or consular visa to travel to India: an electronic one is available for 30 days, one year or five years, and costs from $10 to $80. Putin also noted that mutual tourist flows are increasing from year to year. For centuries, the peoples of Russia and India have shown a sincere interest in traditions, history and spiritual values, he stressed.
Culture, or even media culture, will undoubtedly help us get to know each other better. For example, agreements have been signed in New Delhi that will literally change the media space of Russia and India forever. The National Media Group (NMG) is starting cooperation with leading Indian media: the largest state-owned broadcasting company Prasar Bharati, the leader of the TV9 Network and the leading news agency Asian News International (ANI).
This is a fundamentally new level of relations that will open up opportunities for both countries. Such cooperation has already been described on Indian television as strengthening information security.
"It is the interaction of the media industry that is especially important because it allows people from our countries to get to know each other better and, consequently, cooperate better," said Svetlana Balanova, CEO of the National Media Group.
The signing of the agreement reflects the commitment of NMG and Prasar Bharati to strengthen international dialogue, exchange experience and develop joint projects in the media sphere. Prasar Bharati is particularly excited about the prospect of exploring the possibility of hosting our TV and radio channels on each other's digital platforms, says Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO of the broadcasting company.
The agreement with TV9 Network will allow us to develop cooperation through the exchange of media content, joint production of materials, training and internships of employees, as well as through large-scale correspondent networks. This will help to understand Russia's point of view and introduce it to the whole of India and the world, said TV9 editor-in-chief Paritosh Chaturvedi.
Almost all news about Russia here in India comes from third-party sources, not from Russian or Indian agencies, Sanjeev Prakash, ANI's editor-in-chief and CEO, draws attention. Western resources are too active in the region, and the appearance of a National Media Group in the country will change everything, and not only in the field of news.
NMG is Russia's largest holding company, which manages several TV channels, is engaged in film distribution, makes films and vivid television shows. And India is a huge market with a population of almost 1.5 billion people. However, the holding company entered it back in 2017, when the film "Attraction" was sold to India. As a result, the volume of NMG sales in the republic has already increased eightfold. And after the triumphant success of the film "Red Silk" in China, the approach to work in India will change completely.
— Everyone knows our big joint project "Red Silk". And, of course, when we look at such a large market as India, we approach such a market in the same purposeful and systematic way. We have now announced the completion of filming of the first Russian reality show in India," Svetlana Balanova noted.
This is the show "The Secret Millionaire" with Sergey Burunov, which is airing in the new season on CTC. The Russian-Indian team worked on the project with the support of the Indian Embassy in Moscow and the National Film Development Corporation of India. And this is far from the only television collaboration experience. One of the episodes of the CTC show "100 places to eat" with Alexander Belkovich was also filmed in the republic. Now the cooperation will only accelerate. Negotiations are underway to launch several large-scale film projects from NMG in Indian film distribution.
In total, the delegations of Russia and India signed 29 joint documents. However, the most important was the joint statement by Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi. This document consists of 70 points: it is devoted, among other things, to issues of trade and economic cooperation, partnership in the energy sector, transport, cooperation in the Arctic, cooperation in the field of space and peaceful atom.
Thus, Russia and India stressed the need to resolve the situation with the Iranian nuclear program through dialogue. Separately, in a joint statement, they decided to encourage the joint production of components for Russian military equipment in the republic: through technology transfer and the creation of joint ventures. A new powerful impetus for cooperation should be expected in a year — Vladimir Putin invited Narendra Modi to Russia on a return visit.
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