A Memorandum of Understanding has been prepared in the meeting of working groups of India and Russia to promote trade through the Northern Sea Route. Both the countries are working towards developing a new sea corridor. This new sea route will also reduce the distance between the two friendly nations, which will boost trade. At present, a large part of the trade between the two countries passes through the Red Sea, but the crisis on trade has increased even more due to the fear of ongoing war in that region.
Keeping in view the global scenario, Russia has been trying to work on this project for the last several years. At the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Putin in July, it was decided to set up a working group on the Northern Sea Route under the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission on Mutual Cooperation. The first meeting of this working group was held in New Delhi on 10 October, in which the targets for Indian and Russian shipments along this sea route, joint projects for Arctic shipbuilding and training sessions for Indian sailors for polar navigation were also discussed. Was discussed.
India's energy supply will be ensured
The Northern Sea Route is the shortest sea route connecting the western part of Eurasia to the Indo Pacific. The Russian government appointed state-run nuclear energy agency Rosatom in 2018 to create infrastructure for the route. Two Indian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said India is interested in both the Northern Sea Route and the Eastern Sea Corridor as both ensure energy supplies from Russia.
This corridor becomes even more important for India because most of the trade between India and Russia is completed through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea and because there is a constant war situation in the region, due to which trade is affected. It is happening. Officials said India cannot afford continued disruption in its trade routes and is therefore keen to develop all alternative routes.
Northern Sea Route will further increase trade between the two countries
According to the official, the Northern Sea Route becomes even more important at this time because in the last years, bilateral trade between India and Russia was 7.5 billion dollars in 2016-17, which has now increased to more than 65 billion dollars. The main reason for this is India's increasing oil imports from Russia. With the opening of this sea route, India's energy supply will remain uninterrupted. Additionally, Indian public sector companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have invested in oil and gas assets in the Sakhalin and Tomsk region of Siberia. They will also be helped through this path.
Both countries prepared Memorandum of Understanding
This meeting held between the working groups of the two countries was attended by Rajesh Kumar Sinha, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways from the Indian side, while Rosatom's Special Representative for Arctic Development Vladimir Panov attended from the Russian side. A statement after the meeting said that the working group has prepared a draft of a memorandum of understanding for the North Sea Route on behalf of the governments of the two countries.
