Aviation to space technology, Russian regions bat for strong partnership with India

A number of small aviation enterprises from the Samara Region – one of Russia’s most economically developed areas – are willing to supply and maintain light aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles for the needs of enterprises and government agencies in India.

This was conveyed to Pavan Kapoor, Ambassador of India to Russia, by the local government when he recently visited the Russian region located in the southwestern part of the East European Plain on the Volga river bordering Tatarstan and Kazakhstan.

The development of Samara’s economy is based on high-tech industries, including auto assembly, aviation and space, chemical, and metal industries.

The region’s aerospace industries develop and manufacture spacecraft, aircraft and rocket engines, component parts for aircraft, and carry out service and repair of aircraft and power systems.

The companies include the Progress Rocket Space Centre, Kuznetsov, Aviacor aviation plant, Aviagregat, Agregat, Gidroavtomatika, and ‘Ekran’ Scientific Research Institute.

In his meeting with Viktor Kudryashov, the First Vice-Governor-Chairman of the Government of the Samara Region, Kapoor discussed promising areas for the development of cooperation between India and Samara in the trade, economic, scientific, technical, socio-cultural spheres.

Kudryashov told the Indian Ambassador that the leading Russian space industry enterprise Progress Rocket and Space Centre can be the flagship of potential cooperation with India on the part of the Samara region.

JSC RCC Progress is one of the leaders in the global space industry in the development, production and operation of medium-class launch vehicles with a comprehensive offer for the sale and launch of mission-solving satellites into near-Earth orbit many sectors of the Indian economy.

The Russian proposal included the organisation and maintenance of ground-based control complexes, processing and storage of received data from satellites and personnel training.

“Our region is the space capital of Russia, and the state of Karnataka is the Silicon Valley of India. Together, this tandem can lead to an economic and technological breakthrough. Our main goal is to saturate our interaction with fruitful projects and raise it to a qualitatively new level,” Viktor Kudryashov emphasised.

“We are ready to organise substantive negotiations and present the entire economic and cultural potential of the region. I am sure that we have something to surprise and interest you,” he added.

India, a long-standing and important partner of several Russian regions, continues to see a huge surge of interest from companies and organisations beyond Moscow.

On April 13, Kapoor is also scheduled to participate in a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation where he will be shown a detailed presentation on the Samara region.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry will conduct a multi-sectoral business mission to India from April 3-7.

This would be the largest business event organised by the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with India in terms of its scale, level of representation and the number of participants from the Russian regions.

A Russian-Indian business forum will also take place, including visits to technology parks, special economic zones for industrial development, and the opening of an office of an honorary representative of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India.

“The main purpose of the visit is to strengthen relations with business associations of India, promote the establishment of direct contacts between domestic business and the Indian business community, as well as familiarize with new opportunities for interaction and cooperation,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova in Moscow on Thursday.

The delegation to India includes the heads of Expocentre Fairgrounds, International Trade Center PJSC, territorial chambers of commerce and industry, member organisations from sectors (including light industry, chemical, pharmaceuticals, IT industry, mechanical engineering, automotive, innovative technologies), which have the potential to develop bilateral relations.

In India, the Russian touring party will be hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the partner organisation of the Russian chamber in the country.

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