President of Russian Mr. Vladimir V. Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in Goa, during an official visit of the Russian President to India for the 17th India-Russia Annual Summit.
The Leaders reviewed the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia that is rooted in longstanding mutual trust, characterized by unmatched reciprocal support to each other’s core interests and unique people-to-people affinities.
The Leaders noted with satisfaction strengthening of bilateral scientific cooperation programme, in both basic and applied sciences, in such fields as Material Science, Information & Communication Technologies, Biotechnologies, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, etc.
The Sides observed the positive dynamics in the development of scientific and technical ties between the states and regions of India and Russia.
The Sides welcomed Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India and the FASО of Russia on further development of bilateral interaction in scientific and technical sphere and in the field of innovations.
The Sides noted the expansion of cooperation in the field of education. The Russian Academia has been getting more and more actively involved in the programme of academic mobility launched by the Government of India and called the Global Initiative for Academics Network, the large number of applications from Russian professors being its proof. The Sides agreed to carry forward cooperation under this initiative.
Educational cooperation between India and Russia received institutional support with the creation of the Network of Russian and Indian Universities (RIN) established under the Declaration signed in Moscow on May 8, 2015 by representatives of 9 Indian and 21 Russian institutions of higher education in the presence of the President of the Republic of India H.E. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee and Minister of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation Mr. Dmitry V.Livanov.
The Sides noted the RIN’s intensive activity in promoting exchanges of students and faculty, development of curriculum, creation of joint laboratories, organization of scientific conferences and seminars as well as conducting joint scientific research and collaboration in commercialization of technologies developed in research institutions.
The Sides called for sustained efforts for the expansion of the list of universities participating from both countries in the RIN.
The Sides expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved in the MoU signed in December 2015 between Centre for Development of Advance Computing (CDAC), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) for cooperation in high performance computing (HPC).
The Indian Side conveyed its interest in expanding this cooperation with the Russian Side in a number of activities in supercomputing beyond envisaged in the MoU.
The Sides took note of the interaction in the field of mathematics and successful hosting of the 2nd Indian-Russian Joint Conference in Statistics and Probability in Saint Petersburg in May-June 2016, and pointed out the necessity to further enhance cooperation in this area.
Recognizing the importance of the Arctic and given that Russia is a member of the Arctic Council and India is an observer since May 2013, the Sides agreed to facilitate scientific cooperation to study the challenges (like melting ice, climate change, marine life and biodiversity), facing the rapidly changing Arctic region.
The Sides welcomed interaction between India and Russia in the field of modern phytogenetics, which serves as the most important source of knowledge and constructive solutions for the provision of food security, and success of the First International Scientific Symposium “Genetics and genomics of plants for food security” in Novosibirsk in August 2016, as well as underlined the necessity of further enhancement of cooperation in this field.
Welcoming the declaration of June 21 as International Day of Yoga and noting successful organization of Yoga events in the year 2016, the Sides agreed to cooperate for promoting health and fitness through traditional Indian forms of Yoga and Ayurveda. The Sides will explore possibility of mutual cooperation in formulation of curriculum for Ayurvedic studies and development of regulations for quality control of Ayurvedic practices and medicines in Russia.
Space Cooperation:
The Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to pursue the immense potential to cooperate in outer space with a view to advance socially useful applications and scientific knowledge. They welcomed signing of a MoU for setting up and utilizing ground stations in each other’s territories to enhance the usefulness of their respective navigation satellite constellations of GLONASS and NavIC.
The Sides emphasized that the space agencies of India and Russia will engage more actively on space technology applications, launch vehicle, satellite navigation, space science and planetary exploration.
The Sides also confirmed their commitment to elaborate within the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the UN Committee on Space a consolidated approach to the preparation of the set of guidelines for the long-term sustainability of outer space activities and regulatory provisions on safety of space operations, as the most important component of the said document.
Defence Cooperation:
Recognizing the contribution of military-technical cooperation in the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries, the Leaders reaffirmed their strong commitment to continue their cooperation in this field. In this context, they commended the activities of the Indian-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation.
The Sides expressed satisfaction at joint Indian-Russian exercises INDRA involving ground forces in Russia’s Far East in 2016. They welcomed the visit of the Indian Minister of State for Defence in April 2016 and delegation of the National Defence College in May-June 2016 to Moscow. They underlined the need to expand training, joint exercises and institutionalized interactions between the Armed Forces of both countries.
The Sides noted with satisfaction achievements in the field of joint design, development and production of high-technology military equipment and in this context, positively evaluated the establishment of the Joint Venture for production of Ka-226T helicopters in India.
Both Sides welcomed plans to hold Indo-Russian military industrial conference later in 2016 and create bilateral Science & Technology Committee. The Indo-Russian Military industrial Conference will address military equipment related issues including spares, repair and maintenance of Russian supplied equipment and co-production. Private players too would be invited to participate under Make in India initiative.
The Bilateral Science & Technology Committee would focus on matters relating to R&D collaboration in such high-tech areas as IT, communication, cyber security, medical engineering, outer space cooperation, remote sensing, etc.
Security and Disaster Management:
Recognizing the need for sustained and institutionalized interactions to foster greater security-related and disaster management cooperation, the Sides noted the successful visit of Russian Minister for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters Vladimir Puchkov to India in March 2016, during which they held the first meeting of the Joint Commission on cooperation in the field of prevention and elimination of emergencies and signing of the Joint Implementation Plan for the years 2016-2017.
Recalling the visit of Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev to India in September 2015, the Sides reaffirmed their intention to finalize an Agreement on Cooperation between the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and a Joint Action Plan between the Narcotics Control Bureau of the Republic of India and the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, which would provide an enabling framework to further develop ongoing inter-ministerial interactions for exchange of best practices and expertise, conducting training courses in countering extremism and drug-trafficking.
