The Hindu : Putin for trilateral cooperative initiatives

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 06, 2002

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Putin for trilateral cooperative initiatives

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Dec. 5 . The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has stressed the importance of continuing meetings between India, Russia and China as part of the trilateral cooperative initiative.

Sources said that Mr. Putin, who left here today after a three-day official visit, raised the issue with Mr. Vajpayee on Wednesday. But the Prime Minister did not respond directly to the point made by the Russian President.

According to the sources, Mr. Putin said the Foreign Ministers of the three countries should keep meeting as they did on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session in September this year.

Asked if there was any proposal to hold a separate Foreign Ministers' meeting (not on the sidelines of the UNGA), the sources replied in the negative.

Mr. Putin is said to have reiterated his recent remarks that Russia and India, India and China, as well as Russia and China, should continue to strengthen their relations.

The institution of annual summits between Russia and India has served to focus attention on bilateral relations between the two countries and their efforts at multilateral cooperation.

However, just as India needs to be engaged with Russia, Moscow also needs to focus on India and the rest of Asia. Of late, the Russian foreign policy focus has been on the United States and NATO.

If, for instance, the Russia-India relationship is to transcend defence sales and cooperation, then Moscow, too, will have to do its bit in diversifying relations.

The declaration on trade adopted by the two countries is long and detailed in identifying new areas of cooperation, but is short on how this is to be done and whether there is a time frame for implementation.

But, the sources said, trade between the two countries could only grow if there was something in it for the business community. There could be no artificial thrust to the trade relationship, they stressed.

There is little doubt that the strategic concord between the two countries could be undermined if it is not based on strong trade ties. Both countries appear conscious of this issue and the need to address it.

In the field of defence cooperation, it is pointed out that the negotiations for high-profile deals such as Admiral Gorshkov and the T-22 bomber have been long and tortuous.

According to the sources, the BJP-led Government is going slow on the deals in the post-Tehelka scenario. Given the past controversies on defence deals, the Government is keen that the best possible prices are negotiated with the Russians.

It is instructive that defence purchases are not shown as part of the annual trade turnover between the two countries. Both countries have been speaking in general and not specific terms on the defence deals. The sources, however, are confident that the negotiations will be concluded soon.

As far as the documents signed yesterday are concerned, the Russians have gone along with the Indian position on cross-border terrorism and Pakistan, while New Delhi has accommodated Russian concerns on possible deployment of weapons in space.

There is little doubt that with Mr. Putin at the helm in Russia, a business-like approach to foreign policy issues is evident in Moscow. Such an approach should find welcome in New Delhi.

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