Inaugural address - Embassy of India, Moscow

Inaugural address of RRM at the Russia-India Defence
Conference
(Moscow, April 17, 2015)
It is a great pleasure for me to be here with you at this
conference which will discuss intensification of defence and
economic cooperation between our two countries. I compliment
ASSOCHAM and Sberbank on this timely initiative.
Our two countries have a proud history of warm and cordial
relations, based on an extraordinarily broad-based foundation of
interaction
over
centuries,
cultural
affinities,
intensive
cooperation in multiple sectors and shared views on major global
political and economic developments. The practice of Annual
Summits between our two leaders has ensured the continued
vibrancy of our special and privileged strategic partnership.
During the landmark visit to India of the President of the Russian
Federation in December last year, our two leaders reaffirmed
their determination to further intensify and diversify our bilateral
partnership.
1
In this endeavour, defence and economic cooperation have
special significance. The joint statement issued at the Summit
noted the shared belief of our two leaders that economic relations
constitute a key pillar of a strong strategic partnership. Speaking
at the media conference with President Putin, our Prime Minister
drew attention to the fact that Russia has been India’s foremost
defence partner through decades and reaffirmed that, even as
India’s options have increased today, Russia will remain our most
important defence partner. He also suggested to President Putin
that Russia should locate manufacturing facilities in India for
spares and components for Russian defence equipment. President
Putin responded warmly, assuring our Prime Minister that Russia
would support the establishment of a modern industrial complex
in India.
Our two leaders are therefore clear in their vision for the
future development of our economic cooperation. It is now up to
our officials and to our corporate entities to translate this vision
into reality on the ground. Your discussions at this conference
should make a valuable contribution to this.
2
Since coming to office in May last year, our government has
initiated a number of reforms in our procedures and regulations
to encourage foreign enterprises to manufacture in India, both for
consumption in our country and for exports. A prime initiative
was the launch of a national programme of ‘Make in India’,
which is designed to facilitate investment, foster innovation,
enhance skill development, protect intellectual property, and
build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure.
In the last nine months, we have liberalized the foreign
direct investment policy regime in the defence sector permitting
up to 49% foreign investment through the government route and
providing the possibility of an even higher proportion where
access to modern and state-of-the-art technology is involved. We
are also committed to promoting our domestic defence industry
through preferential treatment to acquisitions involving buying
Indian or buying and making in India. We are actively
encouraging Indian companies to partner with foreign companies
in joint ventures and technology transfers.
These
measures
open
up
a
much
wider
range
of
opportunities for Russian manufacturers to partner with the
3
Indian public or private sector companies for joint manufacturing
in India. The Russian defence industry is already very familiar
with India because of our long history of defence cooperation.
But many of you may still not be fully aware of the extent to
which our industrial strengths and capabilities have advanced in
recent years and of the enhanced quality of our human resources,
which make manufacturing in India an attractive proposition.
The extensive deployment of Russian platforms and
equipment in our armed forces provides a natural context for
India-Russia joint ventures. In the dialogue between our leaders,
as well as between our Defence Ministers, we discussed the
potential for establishing facilities in India for repair and
maintenance of Russian defence platforms and for manufacturing
subassemblies and components. We have identified defence
platforms that can be manufactured or integrated in India. As
many of you are already aware, these discussions cover major
platforms such as Su-30 aircraft, Mi-17 helicopters, light
helicopters, T-90 tanks, infantry combat vehicles, submarines and
naval frigates. We are also looking for partnership with Russian
original equipment manufacturers for joint ventures or co-
4
production of a number of other components for our Russian and
other weapon systems.
Successful implementation of these projects can take our
defence cooperation to significantly higher levels and foster a
more integrated defence relationship. Already, through projects
like BrahMos, our defence cooperation has transcended the
buyer-seller phase to one where we jointly develop and
manufacture equipment for the needs of our countries as well as
for exports. We are now poised to expand on this model.
I believe it is important that business and industry in both
governments are properly sensitized about the prospects and
opportunities of collaboration in these sectors. The strong
political will to intensify our defence cooperation has been
clearly articulated by the leaders of our two countries. Objective
economic
factors
also
promote
this
direction.
Our
two
governments will continue to extend their support, but it is
essentially for industry to take up the challenge of exploiting the
potential to the full. I wish your conference fruitful deliberations
on these practical issues.
****
5