Good evening!
This year, of course, we mark the 20th year of our strategic partnership. President Putin visited India in the year 2000. He met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and since then, our strategic partnership has gone from strength to strength. As I said in Russian, it is quite unique in international relations for this sort of trust; this continuity. Of course, we need to address the new challenges that come up as we proceed, but there is no relationship as better prepared to take on the new challenges of the post-COVID world. As we enter into 2021, hopefully this year will mark the beginning of the post-COVID world. A very complicated world, where relationships are in flux, big powers are flexing their muscles, the old multilateral order is under deep stress. But India and Russia are best placed, through cooperation, consultation, trust, to take this forward.
We did not have a summit last year because of the COVID situation and for no other reason. India and Russia have had annual summits continuously since the year 2000, so while the absence of a high level face-to-face meeting is something that was noted, the fact is that our leaders, Prime Minister Modi and President Putin spoke to each other 4 times. Our defense minister Mr Rajnath SIngh visited Russia twice - one for the 75th Anniversary of the victory in the great patriotic war. To give solidarity with Russia, the Russian people, the Russian Armed Forces, we had one, major, very colorful, very popular Indian contingent that participated in the Red Square parade. Our Foreign Minister, Dr Jaishankar, visited Moscow along the same time in September with our Defence Minister for the SCO Meeting, and he also had a meeting of the RIC, and also had a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov. Last year, of course, that Foreign Minister Lavrov began the year with visiting Delhi for the Raisina Dialogue. So despite the COVID pandemic, we did have a lot of interaction and India worked very closely with Russia to ensure the success of the Russian presidency of the BRICS, the SCO and the RIC, and we cooperated very closely in the G20. With Russia’s support and close consultations, India has already taken its seat on the Security Council as a non permanent member between 2021-22. It has gotten off to a very good start and it was facilitated by the visit of our Secretary in-charge of UN affairs, Mr Vikas Swarup, who met Deputy Foreign Minister Vershinin in December.
We have had consultations on Afghanistan, on the UN, on the Arctic issues - first time India & Russia have spoken on Arctic issues. This is a continuation of the Act Far East policy launched by Prime Minister Modi during the Vladivostok Summit of September 2019.
Another major offshoot of that was the holding, last week, of the first India-Russia-Japan, trilateral, track-II dialogue. India welcomed Russia’s observership in the Non-Aligned Movement. India strongly supported Russia’s intention to play a more active role in the Indian Ocean Rim Association. We have taken forward our trade negotiations with the EaEU and India actively supports the Eurasian partnership initiative of Russia. We wish to take forward the North-South Corridor in a very major way; the time has come. And we also wish to operationalize the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor because this will fit into the larger connectivity projects in the Indo-Pacific that will take us into Russian northern seashore, which is the Arctic area. India is in touch with its Russian counterparts for major energy investments, in the Russian Arctic, as well as Russian investments in India as India progresses and goes forward with respect to its gasification of its economy and gasification and increased use of energy. There are huge prospects with respect to import of Russian coking coal into India to enhance the efficiency of our steel industry. The $1bn credit line that was announced by Prime Minister Modi during the Vladivostok Summit, is the subject of very detailed, advanced discussions between the finance ministries of both countries.
Despite the COVID pandemic, let me say that India-Russia relations have been active, very productive and we have laid the good basis for resumption of contacts when they happen in 2021. We expect a series of high level visits to take place in the first quarter of this year to take forward and prepare for a possible bilateral summit sometime in the middle of the year, provided the COVID situation allows face-to-face meetings. The India-Russia relations are of such strategic nature, that these have to be facilitated through face-to-face meetings.
Let me also say a few words about cooperation between India and Russia about cooperation during the COVID period. First of all, I would like to thank the Russian authorities for facilitating the return of more than 12000 Indian nationals, many of them students from far flung places in Russia, back to India. We, likewise, facilitated the return of more than 6000 Russian nationals in India who were stuck during the COVID lockdown. There was cooperation in the medical sphere - India provided more than 80 tonnes of medical supplies during the COVID period. More importantly today we face the prospect of increasing this cooperation in the field of vaccines. Many of you are aware that the Sputnik vaccine is in the advanced stage of regulatory approvals in India, the second phase has been completed, third phase trials have begun and as soon as these trials are completed with the necessary regulatory approvals, we envisage a major rolling out of the Sputnik vaccines in India, using the Indian production capacities for India, for Russia and for the entire world.
As you are aware, India has already launched a major vaccination programme. Fortunately, there are close similarities between India and Russia. The high numbers that we witnessed in November and December are on their way down - like it is in Russia, like it is in India. On 16th January, India started its vaccination programme. Our objective is to vaccinate more than 300 million people. It is the largest vaccination programme in the world. We have already accomplished, in less than a week, about 1.6 million vaccinations, and these numbers are expected to increase as we move forward. India has also said, while Indian requirements are to be met, we already have 80 million doses of vaccines that have already been produced in India, we wish to take this forward in the spirit of sharing what we have.
India has reached out and has provided free grants for our dear friends in our neighboring countries - Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Seychelles, Maldives and the list is expected to increase. We have also sent our COVID vaccines to Brazil; Saudi Arabia is on the list, Morocco
We have received requests from more than 90 countries for vaccines that are produced in India. This is not a surprise, because India is truly the pharmacy of the world. We have 60% of the world’s production capacity, and our PM when he addressed the UNGA said that “what India has, India will share” as part of our philosophy of sharing, and the spirit of the world as one family. In pursuance of that, we have taken this forward. I am very confident that India-Russia vaccine cooperation will be a very major pillar as we move forward, as we roll out and the vaccination processes in different countries accelerate and make a positive impact, not just for our people, but for humanity as a whole.
This year will also be important in terms of strengthening our defence ties, strengthening our ties in the economic sector. We look forward to the return of many Indian students to the Russian universities. Aeroflot is already in touch with the Indian civil aviation authorities to resume flights at least twice a week. We hope these consultations are completed soon. I began by quoting Foreign Minister Lavrov and I would very much encourage you to look at his extremely positive remarks with respect to India in his 18th January press conference. I can never better what the Foreign Minister said. We fully endorse his great support for India. So, lastly let me wish you and your families good health. We have taken precautions during the last year. Part of the precautions is to continue to wear the mask, to have social distancing, to take normal precautionary measures and part of the normal precautionary measures is to take the vaccination, and in respect of that, I can very happily say that I joined my Russian friends in a polyclinic in Taganskaya and took the first shot. I am perfectly fine and I would encourage anyone else to go forward and once the second shot is over, and once all the people are vaccinated, we can have a post-vaccination party in the summer.
So with that, a great welcome, happy new year once again, and please enjoy the evening and we look forward to working along with you, as we take forward the course of India-Russia relations in 2021.
