Article Posted on : - Dec 12, 2014

NEW DELHI (PTI): Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's thrust for "Make in India", Russia on Friday said joint ventures and co-production was the way forward in all sectors, including defence, to achieve the target of USD 30 billion bilateral trade by 2025.

Russia also said it was ready to engage with India for the modernisation of all defence equipment, including ships, submarines and aircraft.

"We (Russia and India) are shifting towards bigger cooperation. We are shifting from pure commercial cooperation to something like joint production," Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said here a day after his President Vladimir Putin's visit.

He said the target of USD 15 billion worth of mutual investments by 2025 "is little difficult if we only go by selling and buying products".

"We are planning to achieve a target of USD 30 billion by 2025 not merely by selling or buying products but by way of joint ventures, joint production of goods in India as well as in Russia," Manturov told PTI.

He said that defence is an important sector and Russia is planning to create joint projects.

"We are already in the process actually. In the joint production of Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), we have accomplished the first stage. We are moving forward to second stage starting next year," he said, adding that the same holds true for the joint production of Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA).

"We started the project (MTA) in 2010. According to the government agreement, we are planning to receive the first aircraft by 2017 to start certification. We are on schedule for this project," he said when asked why the project is delayed.

Defence sources say that MTA as well as FGFA projects are running behind schedule due to a number of reasons.