Russian President Medevedev visits India; India and Russia sign a 23 billion Euros contract to jointly develop a design for a new fifth-generation multirole fighter (FGFA); Discussion on civil nuclear cooperation held between the two sides;
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    • Russian President Medevedev was on a two day visit to India during December 21-22. On December 21, India and Russia signed a contract worth up to 23 billion Euros, to jointly develop a design for a new fifth-generation multirole fighter (FGFA). The document was signed between Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).1 Russia and India intend to develop cooperation in the nuclear sphere. It was noted in the joint statement issued by two countries.2 On December 21, discussions were held on first two units of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Southern India for launching the work. India is one of the world's biggest markets for nuclear technology with plans to reach a nuclear power capacity of 63,000 megawatts by 2032, from the current level of 4,560 megawatts. ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, signed initial agreements to barter its stake in its Russian unit Imperial Energy for acquiring a 25-30 per cent interest in Sistema-owned JSC Bashneft.3

    The two countries also set a target of doubling bilateral trade to 15 billion euros by 2015 and pledged to deepen cooperation on counter-terrorism and regional security.4 Agreements were signed on easing visa requirements for certain categories of citizens, on cooperating in the oil and gas and nuclear energy spheres as well as jointly developing information technologies The leaders of both the countries agreed on a number of issues such as joint cooperation in emergency situations, to establish a joint technological center, etc. Memorandums were signed on widening cooperation in using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, on cooperation in pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies. Vnesheconombank (VEB) signed a memorandum on cooperation with State Bank of India and on understanding with India's Export-Import Bank.

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