Mukesh Ambani to head India-Russia CEOs' forum

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani will co-chair the India-Russia CEOs' Council, which was established in New Delhi on Wednesday to strengthen bilateral business cooperation in the areas of oil, energy, power, transport, telecom and high technology.

This was announced by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath at the conclusion of the 2nd meeting of India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment, coinciding with the visit of Russian Prime Minister Victor A Zubkov.

Ten CEOs each from India and Russia will be on the Council, which will work towards converting about $8 billion dollars worth of projects under discussion and explore new areas for trade and investment.

With the setting up of the business council, "the level of economic engagement between the two countries should increase," Nath said, while addressing a joint press conference with Russian Minister for Economic Development and Trade Elvira S Nabiullina.

Nabiulliana said, "CEOs' Council will be useful to increase the trade manifold between the two countries."

The two BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries had agreed on Tuesday to boost the bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2010.

Russian PM for info exchange:

There is a need to satisfy the information hunger among the people of Russia and India about each other, Russian Prime Minister Victor A Zubkov today said.

"During yesterday's numerous negotiations we said to each other that the people of the two countries do not know each other well enough," Zubkov said launching the Russian Information Centre in New Delhi.

The Russian Prime Minister who is on a three-day visit here said the exchange of news is not adequate between the two countries. "We should also bear in mind that the people of the two countries have a very keen interest in each other," he said adding, the people are eager to know what is of interest in the other country and what problems their counterparts are facing at the moment.

"I am absolutely sure that this very centre will help to satisfy that information hunger," he added. Zubkov hoped the centre will become a symbol of Russian informational presence in India. He said that with time it will become a centre for information exchange between the people of the two countries themselves.

"It will also be a focal point for the representatives of business, culture and science of the two countries," he said.