India-Russia Business Forum pushing international trade , FICCI unifies stakeholders

NEW DELHI, 29 March 2023: FICCI, in collaboration with RosCongress, JSC ‘Russian Export Centre’ and Moscow City Government today organized ‘India-Russia Business Forum’ including an interactive B2B session. FICCI along with its Russian associates organized over 120 B2B meetings between Indian and Russian companies in sectors like energy, infrastructure and development, Information technology, pharmaceuticals, and construction.

In addition to the B2B meetings, panel discussions on advanced information technology, the development of smart cities, advanced healthcare, digitalization in industry, and the invention of microprocessors were held. These discussions covered prospects and ways that India and Russia could cooperate in these fields.

Mr Sergey Cheryomin, Minister, Government of Moscow; Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow; Chairman of the Board, Business Council for Cooperation with India said that we are well known in aerospace industry, and we have good relationship with India in this sector. “India-Russia should together develop advanced technology that is non-aligned, sustainable and independent of external actors,” he added.

The first session on Technological Alliances in Greater Eurasia focused on the need to develop advanced technology without being dependent on Western countries. In this regard, collaboration between India and Russia was stated as paramount. It was stated that Russia could help India conducting Research and Development in areas of Hi-tech fields like robotics and cyber-security, in providing solutions for problems like retention of IT talents and helping through challenges and risks that may arise in future.

Mr Rajiv Singh, Additional Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and International Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India, spoke about forging an alliance between the two countries in the sphere of technology that is not only paramount in the advancement of technology in India but would also enable the growth of the bilateral trade between the two countries and will immensely help India maintain the balance of payments.

The second session on ‘Smart Cities: India and Russia’s Shared Future’ focused on the need for India and Russia to collaborate in establishing smart cities. The discussion covered the conceptual understanding of smart cities and ways in which India and Russia could work together to make progress in this field.

Mr Udayan Kanade, Member, Urban Transformation Committee, FICCI, spoke about the Indian government’s efforts to establish smart cities and discussed the efficiency of Pune as one of the smart cities in India. He also highlighted the issue of cost versus quality that large corporations face in this field and urged the need to find a solution in this area.

The third session on ‘Russia-India: Focusing on Cooperation to Advance Healthcare’ held discussions on cooperation to advance healthcare. Mr. Somasundaram Subramanian, General Director, Eurasian Federation of Oncology, highlighted the need for innovation and investment in research and development in the healthcare field.

The fourth session on ‘Digitalization in Industry and Microprocessors Invention for the New Wave of Tech Innovation’ focused on the need to digitize the industry and establishment of technology that would cater to cyber security issues. Mr Ravi Sachdeva, CEO of Advanced Digital Technologies, in regard of cyber security suggested that prevention is better than cure, therefore earlier development of Al and IT tools is deemed necessary.