NEW DELHI, April 21. /TASS/. A large delegation of Indian businessmen will come to Russia next week to meet with Russian importers and companies to strengthen business ties between the two countries. Dr. Arumugam Sakthivel, President of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO, established by the Ministry of Trade and Industry of India), announced this talking to TASS on Friday.

"To establish business ties with Russian companies including large departmental stores in in the agro-industrial and food processing sectors FIEO is mounting a delegation of 50 exporters to Russia from April 24 to 27," he said.

According to him, Indian businessmen have already scheduled a large number of meetings with Russian importers and companies in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

"The visit is a step forwards on business queries received from Russia in wide range of food sectors including tea, coffee, marine products, ready to eat food etc.," Sakthivel said adding that the Indian embassy in Russia is supporting the delegation.

Sakthivel said that during the visit, it is planned to sign a memorandum of understanding between FIEO and chambers of commerce and industry from Russia to exchange information and organize trips for business delegations on a regular basis. "We are aiming to take our exports to Russia to US $ 5 billion in this fiscal year," he said. Last year, that figure was less than $3 billion.

On Monday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that trade between Russia and India in the period from April 2022 to February 2023 reached about $45 billion. According to him, Moscow and New Delhi "surpassed the goal of achieving bilateral trade volumes of $30 billion by 2025, which was set by the leadership of the two countries."

However, Jaishankar drew attention to the fact that the volume of deliveries from the Russian Federation to India significantly exceeds the volume of deliveries to Russia from India. He expressed concern over the observed imbalance in trade with Russia and called for its overcoming. According to him, "it is very urgent to work together with our Russian friends on how to eliminate this imbalance.".