FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2005
INTERVIEW
Volga to Ganga
Vyacheslav I Trubnikov is the new ambassador of the Russian federation to India. He is an old India hand who is fluent in Hindi, having lived here for close to a decade. He spoke to Ninad D Sheth about developments in the military, economic and diplomatic sphere between India and Russia and the emerging contours of a strategic partnership between the two countries:
What are your immediate priorities in India?
My immediate priority is to do all that I can to shape the emerging strategic partnership between India and Russia. The two are working very closely on a number of critical bilateral issues where we are in agreement. It is this that I want to develop further. I believe that the strategic and military part of the relationship is coming up well. The real issue is the non-military economic sphere. The bilateral figure of trade between the two countries is $1.7 billion. This does not do justice to the potential of the relationship. I seek to work towards enhancing this figure.
The Indo-Russian military ties are on the upswing.
Make no mistake, the Indo-Russian military cooperation has moved into a new sphere. We are now moving beyond the traditional defence relationship of a seller and a buyer of hardware. Now there is much more depth in this relationship. The Brahmos supersonic missile programme is an indication of this upswing. The new relationship has joint research and development of very advanced weapon systems, including the possibility of a fifth generation fighter plane. It also has joint licensing and joint marketing in third countries. This is an unprecedented level of military cooperation and will only grow further in the near future.
Russia has insisted on intellectual property rights protection for defence deals very vigorously.
This is a natural concern. We are now moving into the real critical element of defence cooperation. So, the protection of intellectual property is naturally a concern for us. Steps such as joint production of military technology of the highest level will see a lot of exchange of technology of a very sensitive order. For this, naturally Russia wants to ensure the highest level of intellectual property safeguards. The process has Indian support and I expect an agreement within two months. Work has been on for some time now.
Russia has been suggesting an India-China-Russia strategic triangle. What exactly does this entail? Is it feasible as a block at all?
I would like to call right away for a clean terminological distinction. This concept is devoid of any military-political content. What it does is to reflect the convergence of the three countries’ national interests. There are of course same contradictions, but we can work on the idea of multipolarity and build on common interests.
What are these common interests?
If you look at the world order as it stands today, the confluence of interests become manifest. For one thing, a new and more vigorous role for the UN is critical for all three to pursue. Global terrorism is the second front where there is scope for real and sustained cooperation. The energy sector has seen a lot of action between the two countries lately. Energy is a critical sector of cooperation not just within India but also within China as well. As the two giants of Asia grow economically, they are looking to energy security as fuel for this economic growth. Russia with its resources and technology has the leverage to cooperate in this space. India of course has a very significant investment to the tune of $1.7 billion in the hydrocarbon sector. A majority of this is investments in Sakhalin III and Vankor. Russia too is looking with great interest at opportunities in hydrocarbon explorations in India.
What about the nuclear domain?
We have an active nuclear cooperation. It can of course be greatly enhanced should India agree to sign the NPT and test ban accords since as a responsible member of the nuclear suppliers group, Russia can follow up with a lot more in the civilian nuclear sphere. I would like to add that the international community appreciates the restraint shown by India in proliferation affairs and recognises that India has been very responsible.
During his visit to Bangalore, President Putin had shown interest in setting up a cyber city in Russia. Has there been any progress on that?
Yes, there has. The president is very keen to set up such an information technology park and efforts are underway to identify the correct site for this within our industrial parks. Our focus is to leverage Russia’s large technical manpower and use it to develop information technology capabilities. We believe that this is a prominent area of cooperation between the two countries. Information technology has the scope to push up the civilian relationship between the two countries to a different level.
But, there is not even a chambers of commerce between the two countries’ industrial sectors.
Yes. And this is a serious hindrance since economic cooperation, trade and investment development, as we all know, is about networking and information. This is absent between the two countries. I believe that in this arena a push has to happen from both sides and setting up of a chambers of commerce is indeed a vital first step which needs to be taken. It would be a priority for me.
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