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India, Russia sign seven agreements

Suhasini Haider in New Delhi

In a significant boost to Indo-Russian ties, India and Russia have signed seven agreements dealing with defence, air transport, criminal matters and others.

Hailing the areas of cooperation agreed on by both countries, Indian foreign ministry officials said at a briefing late on Monday night that "Prime Minister (Yeygeny) Primakov's visit has been very important for both countries. It has set the tone for bilateral relations between us for some time to come."

Of all the agreements signed on, the most salient is a long-term military agreement on technical cooperation between Russia and India. The two sides decided to extend their cooperation on military equipment and expertise into the year 2010. The agreement was signed by Defence Minister George Fernandes and on the Russian side by the Minister of Trade G V Gabuniya. India has traditionally procured most of its military equipment from Russia, and defence ministry sources say between 45 and 80 per cent of the armed forces (especially the navy) use technical equipment supplied by Russia.

Speaking to the media after all the agreements had been signed by respective ministers of both countries, Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Primakov looked relaxed as both referred to the extremely "warm nature of their talks". Primakov said relations between India and Russia had grown today, both "horizontally and vertically". Horizontally, he explained, because the cooperation was on a number of issues, and vertically because the outcome of the agreements would take their relationship "upwards".

Primakov also announced that Russian President Yeltsin, whose visit scheduled for early December had to be cancelled due to health reasons, would be making the trip to India in the course of 1999. At that time, India and Russia are expected to sign a 'wide-ranging agreement' which will lead to a 'strategic partnership' between the two countries.

Reacting to a question on the possibility of an India-Russia-China alliance within the region, Vajpayee said it was impossible to compare relations between India and Russia with those between India and China. The former, he said, "were time-tested and traditionally cordial relations" whereas India is "still trying to normalise and improve its relations with China".

The delegations also signed agreements on a long-overdue extradition treaty between the two countries. That, and an agreement for 'mutual legal assistance in criminal matters', say Indian officials, will ensure a reduction in legal problems associated with terrorism as well as the international narcotics trade.

Also overdue was an air transport agreement, which codifies the operation of flights between India and Russia. It was signed by Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar, and the head of the Russian Aviation Service, G N Zayetsev.

All the flights that have been operating between Moscow and Indian cities till now have been doing so on the basis of only ad-hoc agreements.

The two sides also signed a wide-ranging document on cooperation in the fields of trade, science and technology, finance and industry, as well as an agreement to cooperate in the field of communications, before leaving for a banquet hosted by Vajpayee in honour of the visiting Russian prime minister.

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