Russian President Vladimir Putin once again showered praise on the rapid rise of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and insisted it was high time that Russia's "natural partner and ally for decades" was included among the "great powers" of the world. "India should certainly be included among the great powers: one and a half billion people, the highest rates of economic growth among large economies, an ancient culture and so on.".
And good prospects for growth, in particular, said Putin at a plenary session address to the 21st annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Thursday. The Russian President, who has underlined in the past that the process of forming a multipolar world is underway, further added that he highly respects PM Modi's 'Make in India' initiative.
"India is a fantastic country, the biggest in population now – 1.5 billion people, plus 10 million annually. It is developing very rapidly. It is the leader in economic growth among large economies. How much is it? I think 7.4 percent GDP growth per year… "And India is one of those countries whose development rates will be faster than even the successfully developing economies of today.".
And, therefore, from the realities of today, our vision of what, how and where, in what areas and at what rates our relations should develop is based. And the realities are such that the volume of our cooperation increases many times over, he said. "He quoted the steady trend from the first nine months of 2024, in which Putin pointed out that Russia's trade turnover with India grows annually. "We are developing relations with India in all areas… This also concerns the economy – it is developing at a good pace, and also in different areas.
There's energy. By the way, we are ready: in addition to oil supplies, supplies to the Indian market have increased many times over, this concerns the possibility of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) supplies". We are actively working in the field of nuclear energy and we are building nuclear power plants in India. We have great respect for the idea of Prime Minister Modi 'Make in India', for his call 'Make in India' and are ready to invest," he said. "Amongst one of the largest foreign investments – 20 billion dollars – is a Russian investment in this energy sector". And we are ready to develop this even further in the same line. New technologies of course: now we have thoughts about it and will move in the same direction.
On the last meeting, Mr. PM Modi drew attention to the fact that Indian agricultural producers urgently need to increase the quantity and volume of fertilizer supplies. We have done this and are ready to increase it, in mind the needs of Indian agriculture. There are other areas too, many of them,Putin added. The Russian President thanked Prime Minister Modi, expressing great respect and gratitude for his ideas on resolving the Ukraine conflict. We are, without doubt, both thankful to the Prime Minister (Modi) for paying attention to these problems, and for his proposals, and for what and how he does in this regard. Generally speaking, I think that the rate of developing relations with India has been high, and we have every reason to believe that based on what has been achieved so far, we will move even faster than today," he said.
Putin then recalled the annual meeting about Russia's growing cooperation with India in the defence and security sphere. "Look at how much Russian equipment is in service with the Indian army. We are developing here, indeed, with a certain level, a high level of trust together. We do not simply sell our weapons to India, but we are engaged in development together. The BrahMos system is well known. We have made it practically usable in three areas: in the air, 'marinized' and on land.". And these trends in the interests of securing India continue.
This everybody knows does not cause any questions or irritation in someone, but witnesses the high level of our mutual trust and cooperation". He also accredited the ever-lasting, and time-tested relationship between India and Russia. And I think everyone knows very well what role the Soviet Union and Russia played in India gaining its independence, how we supported the Indian people for decades. During this time, we have developed unique relations with the Indian people in terms of their quality and level of trust, I will say this frankly in this context. As far as we understand, as far as we feel, and on the part of our Indian friends, such national consensus exists as regards the development of relations with Russia, with our country, - the Russian president noted.
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