Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin complimented the ‘Make in India’ initiative, adding Russia can follow in the footsteps of its allies like India in promoting the growth of its local businesses.
Putin delivered these comments on Tuesday at the Plenary session of the 8th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, a major port city in Russia’s sanctions-hit Far East region.
In response to a query on Russian-produced automobiles, Putin stated, “You know, we did not have domestically made cars then, but we do now. It is true that they look more modest than Mercedes or Audi cars, which we bought in vast amounts in the 1990s, but this is not an issue. I think that we should emulate many of our partners, for example, India”.
In 2014, Prime Minister Modi started the ‘Make in India’ initiative to encourage investment, boost innovation, improve skill development, safeguard intellectual property, and establish world-class manufacturing infrastructure.
The ‘Make in India’ project is built on four pillars established to stimulate entrepreneurship in India, not just in manufacturing but also in other industries.
“They are focused on the manufacture and use of Indian-made vehicles. I think that Prime Minister Modi is doing the right thing in promoting the Make in India program. He is right”, Putin said.
He went on to say that using Russian-made autos is just fine.
“We have (Russian-made) automobiles, and we must use them; this is absolutely fine. This will not lead to any infringements of our WTO obligations, absolutely not. It will concern state purchases. We must create a certain chain regarding what cars different classes of officials can drive so that they will use domestically-made cars”, Putin continued.
Putin also stated that the ‘India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor’ (IMEC) will have no negative impact on Russia and will actually help the country.
The IMEC was established during the G20 Summit in New Delhi. On the margins of the summit in New Delhi on Saturday, the leaders of the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union officially unveiled the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
“I think it’s for our good; it’ll help us develop logistics”, Putin said in response to a question about whether the IMEC proposal will affect the implementation of Russia’s and China’s projects, as well as what it means for Russia in general.
“First, this project (IMEC) has been discussed for a long time, maybe for the past several years. Truth be told, the Americans joined it at the last minute. But I do not really see why they would want to be part of it, except maybe in terms of some business interest”, Putin noted.
Putin further said, “In the meantime, the additional traffic of goods along this corridor will be in fact an addition to our North–South project. We do not see anything here that could harm us in any way”.
“The North–South corridor goes to the Persian Gulf and then to India. If there is another route, I believe it includes Israel, we will be able to reach the Mediterranean through the Black Sea and use this corridor”, the Russian president continued.
“I do not know, the colleagues who presented this project need to consider it carefully. This is only a memorandum of intent so far”, the Russian president added.
The new economic corridor is being viewed as a viable alternative to China’s contentious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
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