Dec. 21: India and Russia cemented their special and privileged strategic partnership by signing a raft of deals, including one on design and development of an advanced fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
The design contract is worth about Rs 1,500 crore at current conversion rates. The Indian Air Force plans to acquire up to 300 units of this aircraft therefore the final deal could be worth an estimated Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
An agreement was signed to broaden scientific and technical cooperation in nuclear energy under which efforts will be made to jointly develop new-generation fast breeder reactors. Civil nuclear cooperation with third countries will also be considered.
Also signed was an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector that envisages joint ventures in oil and gas projects in India, Russia and third countries, and MoUs on cooperation in IT and pharmaceuticals.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Russian President Mr Dmitry Medvedev, the Prime Minster, Dr Manmohan Singh, said the scope and breadth of the 29 agreements signed on the occasion “reflects our mutual desire to bring our cooperation in other areas at par with our traditionally strong cooperation in the defence and nuclear fields”.
He topped that up by saying: “Russia is a time-tested friend of India that has stood by us in our times of need in the past. Ours is a special and privileged strategic partnership. It is a partnership that has and will continue to develop independent of our relations with other countries.”
Eleven of the 29 agreements were signed in the presence of Mr Medvedev and Dr Singh, while the remaining were either signed on the margins of the summit .
Two agreements were signed in the area of space technology, both pertaining to Glonass (acronym for Global Navigation Satellite System). It is the Russian equivalent of the US’ GPS and has civil and military applications. Under the pacts, which flowed from the understanding reached in 2004, Russia will give India access to the Glonass high precision navigation signals and also jointly produce ground equipment for the introduction of the service in India.