India-Russia Summit reinforces strong friendship

The decades-long relationship between India and Russia is one of the best examples of true friendship, a friendship that stands firm even in difficult situations. The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Delhi, as part of the India-Russia Summit, strengthened cooperation between the two nations.

A major agreement reached during the talks allows components of Russian weapons and defence equipment to be manufactured in India under the “Make in India” initiative and exported to other countries. This is expected to bring India significant economic and defence benefits. Putin’s visit has also opened the door to expanding the strong defence and crude oil partnership into other trade sectors.

Memorandums of understanding were signed in areas such as agriculture, health, maritime cooperation, tourism, and pharmaceuticals. The goal of the new agreements is to increase the current trade value of 6870 crore dollars to 10,000 crore dollars.

One of the major problems Indian farmers face is the shortage of urea. As a solution, companies from both countries have agreed to set up a urea plant. Three major Indian fertiliser companies will partner with Russian giant Uralchem to build the plant in Russia. With an investment of 120 crore dollars, the plant will produce 20 lakh tonnes of urea annually and will be ready within two years. This is expected to almost fully solve India’s urea shortage.

Only two of the six reactors at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu are currently operational. Putin announced at a joint press conference with Modi that construction of the remaining four reactors will be completed. Once the plant reaches full capacity, it will be a major boost for India’s energy sector. Both leaders also stated that India and Russia will continue an uncompromising fight against terrorism. They condemned the terror attacks in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir and the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow.

The arrival of skilled workers and companies from India to Russia could help reduce Russia’s dependence on China in such matters.

Tensions between India and China are not fully resolved. Hence, China is closely watching Putin's visit to India. Chinese state media, Global Times, gave importance to Putin’s remark that both India and China are Russia’s closest friends. However, China has not officially commented on the visit. The India–Russia Summit once again proved that, in many ways, Russia remains a more reliable friend to India than the United States.