five-year roadmap

 

THE details of the five-year economic roadmap firmed up by India and Russia had already been anticipated with fair precision by those who have studied the India-Russia ties in the overall global context. What Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and President Mr. Vladimir Putin have achieved, however, is well beyond economic definitions. The two leaders carved out a collaborative venture between the two countries not just for the next five years up to 2030 but also gave a message to the international community that their vision is in the context of a changing world order in which western dominance would be on the wane, and that either India or Russia would have their own vision at work beyond western diktats.

 

True, Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin did not sign any defence pact -- which, possibly, the West and China were expecting. But that will not bar the two countries from having any defence-related collaboration in near or far future. Beyond formal pacts, the two countries would certainly continue to have favourable defence-related exchanges beneficial to both. This is the reward of a nearly eight-decade long history of close friendship between the two countries. In this relationship, the article of faith is more important than the article on a formal pact and declared agenda. Staying clear from getting engaged in a defence pact will help India in particular to avoid American sanctions for having entered a defence pact with ‘enemy country’ (Russia, in the case).

 

Even without a written and formalised defence pact, defence cooperation between India and Russia has always existed and will continue to do so in the future. This is not just a ducking from possible US sanctions, but also smart way to keep everybody guessing about what may lie in store for the world. India-Russia defence collaboration has been going on for decades without any interruption. Now also, there is no need to change the format unnecessarily and invite undue sanctions. As India has been making itself strategically stronger every passing day, and as it is trying to prepare itself for a multi-front confrontation with neighbouring countries, unstated but silent and robust defence supply-chain is absolutely essential. Keeping this in mind, India and Russia arrived at an unstated understanding about defence cooperation and collaboration -- which, in the long term, make much difference not just to the two countries but also to the world at large.

 

With the Indian economy valued at 4.1-2 trillion dollars and the Russian economy valued at 2.5 trillion dollars, both the countries have drawn up a five-year economic roadmap that is slated to reach a 100 billion dollars in annual trade. Both the countries have worked out common grounds for economic collaboration so that both enhance their own overall worth in the global economic order -- beyond the western dominance. This should be considered as the biggest take-away from the New Delhi summit between Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Vladimir Putin. This summit will leave no chance for the West to dictate its terms to India and Russia, and somehow drive a wedge between the two friends. China, too, may find itself in more or less similar situation. There are reasons to believe that both, Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin, have kept China in a favourable view as a member of the BRICS grouping. For the rest of the world, the New Delhi summit will be a continued enigma.