New Delhi, Oct 15: Russia today made very clear to India its unhappiness over two key bilateral issues—Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) 3 and 4 and investments by its telecom company Sistema in the country, saying rules of the game should never be reconsidered till it is over.
It also stressed that government should “demonstratively” help the business representatives to solve issues emerging during their contact with the bureaucracy, saying business community would stay off, if there were scandals.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin co-chaired the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission meeting on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) during which they also deliberated on these contentious issues.
Addressing a joint press conference, the two leaders agreed that efforts have to be made to achieve the desired bilateral trade target of USD 20 billion by 2015.
Outlining three factors to have strong economic relations, Rogozin said it included that “we should never reconsider the rules of the game once the game has begun. And we should hold the rules till the game is over,” and added that it was important to fulfil the agreements achieved.
Though he did not mention Sistema, the reference was clear as earlier the allotment was done on first-come-first-serve basis and now there is recommendation by an EGoM (empowered group of ministers) for auctioning of spectrum.
On Sistema, Krishna made it clear that he will not be able to comment on the USD 3.1 billion Russian project as the matter was before the court but gave an assurance that the government will try to work on a strategy to pursue strong economic relations.
