MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/: India welcomes the growth of trade turnover with Russia, though it wants it to become more balanced, India’s Ambassador to Moscow Pavan Kapoor told a forum on Thursday.
"Trade has risen considerably this year since April, mainly due to our country’s purchasing large volumes of oil and fertilizers," he said. "Trade reached $27 bln. This is a positive trend, though [we] would like it to be bilateral, as [trade] from Russia was worth $25 bln while [trade] from India only equaled $2 bln," the diplomat said, adding that the Indian side "would like it to be more balanced."
This state of affairs looks logical as there are many other markets, from which goods flow to Russia from other parts of the world, he noted. "But I would like to make a suggestion that Russian businessmen look at India as the main source of their activities. This concerns not only pharma, but also agricultural products, ceramics, chemical products, etc.", the ambassador stressed.
If businessmen are ready to bring this message to interested sides it would be a good backing for India, he said. "We are trying to conduct as many transactions in national currencies as possible, for which balanced trade is required as one side accumulates more, while the other [accumulates] less, and we should search for solutions to this situation," the diplomat explained.
