NEW DELHI: The reaffirmation by the Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, of Moscow’s commitment to fulfill its obligation to sell three cryogenic engines and transfer the relevant technology despite US objections has set the tone for his three-day visit to India beginning Jan.27.
India continues to accord high priority to its relations with Russia, as is evident from the numerous high level exchanges even after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Yeltsin regime’s willingness to honor past commitments is particularly significant since Moscow continues to supply about 70% of India’s military hardware requirements. Yeltsin has emphasized that the main focus of his visit would be to establish a “qualitatively new relationship” with India, while preserving “all the positive assets of the past.” This is in tune with his view that in the changed context there could be no “special relationship on special terms” between Moscow and New Delhi. The new approach will be reflected in the treaty of friendship and cooperation to be signed during his visit. It will replace the 1971 Indo-Soviet pact but contain no security obligations.
Yeltsin will be accompanied by his wife, the foreign minister, Andrei Kozyrev, the defense minister, Pavel Grachev and other key presidential advisers. The visit will enable Yeltsin to have a second meeting with the Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao. They had first met briefly in January last year in New York during the UN Security Council session. Yet another attempt will be made during the visit to solve the ticklish rupee rouble parity issue. The discussions held during the recent visit by the first Russian deputy prime minister, V.F.Shumeiko, with the finance minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, failed to make much headway. India wants the exchange rate to be fixed according to what Dr.Singh described as the strength and weaknesses of both the rupee and the rouble. India has estimated its debt to Russia fast the successor state to the Soviet Union) at Rs 37,000 crore (over S$ one billion). Yeltsin has expressed the hope that it would be possible during his visit to sort out the vexed parity issue. While there has been a decline in purchase of tea, Russia continues to be interested In importing from India a wide range of consumer goods and other products.
The 1953 trade protocol served both India and the Soviet Union well, enabling them to secure essential items without spending hard currency. It gave India access lo, among other things, petroleum products, nonferrous metals, fertilizer and military hardware. The Soviet Union. in tum, received tea, coffee species, readymade garments engineering goods, chemicals and drugs. The first sign of trouble came in 1989 when Soviet production units were allowed to conduct external trade directly and retain part of their hard currency earnings.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 29, 1993
