Irkutsk Oblast is preparing to sign agreements with the administrations of Karnataka and Kerala to strengthen trade, economic and partnership ties with India. At a meeting between Governor Sergey Eroshchenko and Indian Ambassador Ajay Malhotra, the sides discussed growth in trade, supplies of aircraft equipment, electronics and pharmaceuticals, as well as new areas from aircraft building and tourism to education and joint research. Special interest is the development of joint ventures and the opening in Irkutsk of a new plant to produce medicines for treating tuberculosis.

Agreements between the Government of the Irkutsk Region and the administrations of the states of Karnataka and Kerala are planned to be signed in order to deepen trade, economic, and partnership cooperation with the Republic of India. This was reported by the Governor of the Irkutsk Region, Sergey Eroshchenko, at a meeting with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of India to the Russian Federation, Ajay Malhotra.
The head of the region noted that India is a traditional trade and economic partner of the Irkutsk Region. Mutual trade turnover for the first half of 2012 amounted to almost 150 million US dollars.
– These figures are the result of cooperation in the supply of aircraft equipment and components for the Indian Air Force, as well as supplies of Indian computer equipment, electrical equipment, radio equipment, and pharmaceutical products to the Irkutsk Region. This year, enterprises of the Angara region began supplying textiles and printed products to India for the first time, Sergey Eroshchenko emphasized.
The Governor also stressed that an important area for the development of mutually beneficial bilateral relations is the establishment in the Irkutsk Region of joint ventures for the production of consumer goods, food products, medicines, and pharmaceutical preparations. He noted that cooperation in the fields of aircraft manufacturing, tourism, education, and joint scientific research needs to be strengthened.
– We have been cooperating with the Irkutsk Aviation Plant for many years, Ajay Malhotra noted. – In December last year, we signed an intergovernmental agreement worth 1.4 billion dollars, bought another 42 Su-30 MKI aircraft, and equipment is now being delivered to the plant. Another area of our cooperation is the production of pharmaceutical preparations. In September, another plant for the production of medicines for the treatment of tuberculosis will be opened in Irkutsk, which will make it possible to create additional jobs. About 1 billion rubles has been invested in the production.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Irkutsk Region Maksim Bezryadin, Minister of Culture and Archives Vitaly Baryshnikov, Minister of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy Igor Ivanov, head of the territorial body – representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Irkutsk Lyudmila Kurbatova, as well as Deputy Director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Center Sanjay Vedi and Second Secretary of the Embassy of India Sukhvinder Singh.
Based on materials from the press service of the Governor of the Irkutsk Region and the Government of the Irkutsk Region