Trade deficit rising due to oil buy, need to address it: EAM in Russia

NEW DELHI: On a visit to Moscow, external affairs minister S Jaishankar has suggested measures to further expand the trade relationship and to address the trade deficit of $58.9 billion that has resulted from India's increased oil procurement from Russia . The minister said this trade imbalance needed to be addressed urgently.

Ahead of Jaishankar's meeting with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday, Russia said in a statement that the main emphasis would be on promoting transportation, logistics, banking and financial chains independent from countries imposing sanctions, as well as expanding the use of national currencies in mutual settlements.

Addressing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, removing bottlenecks in logistics, promoting connectivity, effecting payment mechanisms smoothly and early conclusion of the India-Eurasian Economic Union FTA , whose terms of reference were finalised on Wednesday, were some of the measures he suggested to diversify trade relations and address the imbalance.

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"They will not only help to address the imbalance and grow our trade, but also hasten the timely achievement of our revised trade target of $100 billion by 2030," said Jaishankar, co-chairing the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) with Russia's first deputy PM Denis Manturov.

Jaishankar called for promoting connectivity through the International North-South Transport Corridor , the Northern Sea Route and the Chennai-Vladivostok Corridor, and also sought timely finalisation and execution of the Programme of Economic Cooperation till 2030.

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On Thursday, Jaishankar will hold talks with Lavrov during which both sides will discuss regional and global issues, including developments related to the Russia-Ukraine war. Lavrov is expected to brief him about the Russia-US summit in Alaska.

Ahead of the meeting, the Russian foreign ministry said that the foundation of the Russian-Indian special privileged strategic partnership was mutual trust and respect. "It is planned to touch upon the issues of enhancing cooperation in the transport, energy, agricultural and scientific-technical spheres," said the Russian statement.