Volume 21 - Issue 03
January 31 - February 13, 2004
DEFENCE
The Gorshkov deal
JOHN CHERIAN
India and Russia sign on January 20 the agreement for the purchase of the Russian aircraft carrier, after hard bargaining which started in 1997
Naval strategists point out that India sits astride two "choke points" for global oil supplies - the strait of Hormuz on its west and the Strait of Malacca in the east. The Indian Navy may be called upon increasingly play a policing role as the volume of traffic in the Indian Ocean region is set to rise dramatically. The three East Asian dynamos, China, Japan and South Korea, will be importing more oil and gas from West Asia as their economies continue to grow. http://www.flonnet.com/fl2103/stories/20040213003603500.htm