Russia and India have expressed their readiness to establish a joint working body to interact in using the Northern Sea Route, according to the mutual statement of RF President Vladimir Putin and India’s Premier Narendra Modi following their negotiations on July 8-9 in Moscow.
According to the document, the parties share approaches to building a new architecture of stable and efficient transport corridors, pay close attention to the development of promising value chains in the Eurasian space, including for the purpose of implementing the Greater Eurasian Space initiative.
In this context, the parties expressed their readiness to work actively to enhance logistics links with a focus on increasing the capacity of infrastructure, including that necessary for the launch of the Vladivostok-Chennai sea corridor and the North-South International Transport Corridor, as well as utilizing the potential of the Northern Sea Route.
“The parties will continue joint efforts to intensify the use of the International Transport Corridor in order to reduce the time and cost of freight transportation, as well as to promote communications in the Eurasian space. Cooperation in transportation and logistics will be based on the principles of transparency, broad participation, consideration of local priorities, financial sustainability, as well as respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all the states,” the document says.
The parties encourage cooperation to develop maritime transportation between Russia and India via the Northern Sea Route. To this end, they expressed their willingness to establish a joint working body within the framework of the IGC to interact using the NSR.
The cooperation envisages increasing cargo turnover with India by launching new routes of the North-South international transport corridor, the Northern Sea Route, and the Vladivostok-Chennai sea line and optimizing customs procedures using intelligent digital systems for barrier-free cargo movement.
Photo: Kremlin press office