Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov expressed confidence that Russia and India can reach their shared goal of achieving USD100 billion in trade turnover by 2030, citing rapid growth in recent years and expanding cooperation across multiple sectors.
In an interview with Russian Media outlet Izvestia, Siluanov pointed to the opening of VTB Bank's new flagship office as a concrete step toward strengthening the financial infrastructure needed to support rising trade volumes.
"Today's event, the opening of the VTB bank flagship office, is just one step towards achieving this goal. The more opportunities there are for settlements, the simpler trade and economic relations will be carried out. Therefore, today's event is just another step, I repeat, towards achieving this goal," he said.
Reflecting on the progress already made, Siluanov noted how the current figures have surpassed earlier expectations. "In 2018, Vladimir Vladimirovich said that the target was 30 billion dollars, but our trade turnover is 68 billion. How did we manage to be even twice as fast, what helped."
"How did we manage to be even twice as fast, what helped, what facts perhaps we used more in our projects regarding Indian equipment/machinery including our trade relations, investment relations, more and more people traveling to our countries. Therefore, the number of cooperation ties between our enterprises and industry is increasing. The military-technical direction is developing well. Trade in energy resources is developing,"Siluanov added.
He also underscored Russia's ongoing efforts to carry out the President's directive to increase imports from India.
"We are currently engaged in implementing the task set by the President regarding increasing imports from India. Therefore, in order to solve these issues, such significant events as today are very important. The simpler the settlements are, I repeat, the greater the turnover, trade turnover, investments, and tourist trips between our countries will be."
The statement of the Russian Finance Minister comes ahead of the Russian President Vladimir Putin arrival in Delhi on Thursday for a two-day State visit and will participate in the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit.