'Want $10-bn trade with Russia? Look beyond Moscow

Indian business needs to reach beyond Moscow to scores of regions in the Russian Federation if the $10-billion bilateral trade target is to be achieved by 2010, a newly formed Russia-focused chamber said.

"In devising a new strategy for reaching the $10-billion trade mark, the growing importance of regions of the Russian Federation needs to be understood," Secretary General of India-Russia Chamber of Commerce Pripuran Singh Haer said in New Delhi.

Haer, who served as India's Ambassador to Russia, said each of the 87 regions of the federation was gaining economic importance, especially from the point of view of small and medium enterprises.

"While Indian businessmen go only to Moscow, decisions are taken at the level of regions of the Russian Federation," he said.

The IRCOC, inaugurated by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov earlier this week, has former Foreign Secretary Shashank and Russian Ambassador to India Trubnikov as its co-patrons.

Haer said though both the economies were growing at a fast pace, India-Russia trade has remained below its potential at $3.3

billion.

India's total merchandise trade in the current fiscal would be close to $400 billion.

There are at least 20 top Russian companies that have forged business relations with Indian firms. Aiming to enrol small and medium firms as its members, the chamber would work in close cooperation with Indian Embassy in Moscow and Russian Embassy in New Delhi.

"Ours is a country-focused chamber and would give focused attention to its members," the IRCOC Secretary General said, adding that it would promote not only trade but mutual investment.