SEP 13, 2023 : Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, has commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative and suggested that Russia may learn from India’s success in fostering the development of its local businesses. In Vladivostok, a significant port city in the Far Eastern region of Russia that has been affected by sanctions, Putin made these comments on Tuesday during his address to the Plenary session of the 8th Eastern Economic Forum. In response to a query regarding automobiles created in Russia, Putin replied, “You know, we didn’t have locally produced automobiles then, but we do now. Although they do have a more understated appearance than the Mercedes or Audi vehicles we purchased in large quantities in the 1990s, this is unimportant.I believe we ought to model ourselves after many of our allies, including India. In order to promote investment, encourage innovation, improve skill development, safeguard intellectual property, and create world-class manufacturing infrastructure, Prime Minister Modi launched the “Make in India” campaign in 2014. The “Make in India” project is built on four pillars that have been identified as having the potential to stimulate entrepreneurship in India across a variety of industries, not only manufacturing. They are concentrated on producing and utilising automobiles built in India. In my opinion, Prime Minister Modi is acting appropriately by promoting the Make in India initiative. He is correct,” the Russian president declared. He continued by saying that it is entirely acceptable to drive vehicles built in Russia. We must drive our (Russian-made) cars; this is perfectly acceptable. Absolutely no violations of our WTO duties will result from this. It will deal with government acquisitions. To encourage officials to drive domestically produced vehicles, we need to establish rules about the types of vehicles that they can drive. Putin added that the ‘India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor’ (IMEC) won’t have any negative effects on Russia and will actually help the nation. At the G20 Summit in New Delhi, the IMEC was unveiled.On Saturday, the leaders of the US, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union formally announced the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) on the sidelines of the summit in New Delhi. Putin’s “busy schedule” prevented him from travelling to the G20 summit. In response to a query regarding if the IMEC plan will affect the execution of Russia’s and China’s projects and what it means for Russia in general, Putin stated, “I think it is for our good; it will help us develop logistics.”“First off, there has been much discussion about this project (IMEC), possibly over the past few years. The Americans actually joined it at the last minute. The only other reason I can think of for them to want to be involved is possibly for commercial reasons, but even then, I’m not sure. “In the interim, the increased volume of products travelling along this corridor will actually constitute a supplement to our North-South project. Nothing that we can see around here poses a threat to our safety, he continued. “The North-South Corridor leads to India and then the Persian Gulf.We will be able to use this corridor to travel from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean if there is a different path, which I believe involves Israel, he continued. “I’m not sure; the coworkers who presented this project ought to give it great thought. This is currently just a statement of intent,” he continued. An alternative to China’s contentious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the new economic corridor.
