The Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation D. B. Venkatesh Varma said to the New Defence Order.Strategy journal that India and Russia have signed an intergovernmental agreement on the manufacturing of spare parts of Russian equipment supplied to India in India.
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"Despite the complexities of the Coronavirus pandemic, India felt it was very important for us to come and participate in ARMY-2020. We would have liked to have participated with a much bigger delegation," said the Indian ambassador.
He added that India would have liked its participation to be bigger, but at least there is some participation and this is of great significance considering the global situation. The Indian Delegation is headed by Shri Raj Kumar, the Secretary of Defence Production.
The Indian Secretary of Defence Production held meetings with the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), Rosoboronexport and the Russian deputy minister for Industry and Trade Oleg Ryazansev. Furthermore, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov and the CEO of Rostec Sergey Chemezov Visited India's pavilion on the first day of the Forum.
"A number of issues were discussed. We were very happy to see the positive support that Russia has extended to India’s “Make In India” programme. We have signed an intergovernmental agreement on the manufacturing of spare parts of Russian equipment supplied to India, now these spare parts will be manufactured in India. Now a number of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on both sides are in touch with each other; this is a big step forward," ambassador D. B. Venkatesh Varma told NDOS journal.
After India had announced its intention to buy Russia's long-range missile defence system S-400, there were speculations about the implications of this deal that the Trump administration warned about. On this matter India's Ambassador said:
"India has a strategic partnership with Russia that has been longstanding, more recently we have established relationship of strategic partnership with the United States. We do not see any contradiction between the two. India would like to promote relations with both Russia and the United States. With respect to defence cooperation, India is an independent country, we make decisions on each case based on its own merits, and I’m sure that both Russia and the United States respect the fact that India makes such decisions in its own interest."
Reem Mohamed
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