The 19th Indo-Russian annual Bilateral summit held at Friday in which both the countries signed eight pacts. The Russian President Vladimir Putin was on a visit to New Delhi for this event and signed various agreements with PM Modi for the upliftment of our country.

 

The duo signed agreements on tackling issues like drug trafficking and disaster management. Moreover, they also agreed to step up cooperation in combating the ill effects of terrorism.

 

But the major agreement signed between India and Russia are:

 

S-400 Triumf Surface to Air Missiles (SAM): Russia is providing state of the art surface to air missile system, S-400 Triumf, to India for guarding their country’s airspace. It is the most formidable air defence system in the world in the present day.

 

Space Programmes: India’s mission of sending astronauts to space will be supported by Russia in every possible way. The mission, which is officially known as Gaganyaan is expected to gain considerable Russian support in terms of space technology.  A crucial MoU was signed between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Federal Space Agency of Russia ‘ROSCOSMOS’ with respect to joint activities in the field of human spaceflight programme Gaganyaan.

 

Cochin Shipyard pact with Russia: India’s Cochin Shipyard signed a pact with Russian firm United Shipbuilding Corporation to boost water transport. The Russian Shipbuilding company provide technical support to develop advanced vessels suitable for inland waterways and coastal transportation.

 

Railways: A memorandum of cooperation is signed between the Ministry of Railways and the Russian Railways to speed up the activities of the previous MoU signed between the two countries on December 24, 2015 which includes the implementation of  the Nagpur-Secunderabad section, installation of a single traffic-control centre for efficient management of rail traffic at the local level, efficient practices in freight and cargo operations, development of multi-modal terminals and a mutual exchange of the advanced technologies used by the two countries.

 

Agriculture: The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Indian Potash Ltd. and producers of phosphate-containing fertilisers PhosAgro Friday announced joint investments in mineral fertilizer production in Russia and India.

 

 The agreement states that PhosAgro is expected to supply mineral fertilisers to Indian firms on a long-term basis and has agreed to supply a maximum of 2 million tonne (MT) during 2019-2021 which is estimated to have a potential value of 1 billion dollar.

 

Economy: Russia and India have signed MoU between National Small Industries Corporation of India and the Russian Small and Medium Business Corporation for boosting the economies through cooperation at a micro level. Both the countries have encouraged the use of national currencies while engaging in bilateral trade. The two countries also examined the progress on the achievement of the objective to increase inter-depending investment to 30 billion dollar by the year 2025.