India, Russia Review Trade Ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday held a virtual meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov in a bid to give a fresh push to trade and investments.
    
Manturov, who is also the Minister of Trade and Industry, and Jaishankar co-chaired the India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC).
    
"The two sides agreed to work together to unlock the full potential of India-Russia bilateral trade and economic relations including through addressing the trade deficit and market access issues," a statement from the External Affairs Ministry said.
    
Jaishankar and Manturov reviewed the progress achieved in the various Working Group and Sub-Group Meetings under the IRIGC-TEC framework since their meeting in Moscow in November 2022 and gave guidance to prepare the ground for the next in-person meeting, which will be held in New Delhi at mutually convenient dates. 
    
The Inter-governmental Commission is a mechanism for regularly monitoring bilateral progress across the sectors of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries which was set up by an Agreement on inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, and Technological Cooperation signed in May 1992. 
    
The first session of IRIGC was held on September 13-14 1994 and 23 meetings of the mechanism have been held so far.
    
The 24th IRIGC-TEC meeting will be hosted by India and Monday's review meeting will pave the way for the same.