NEW DELHI, April 24. /TASS/. The Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO, established by the Indian Ministry of Industry and Trade) and the Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) association have agreed to jointly promote cooperation between the two countries in the field of agriculture, Dr Ajay Sahai, Director General & CEO, FIEO, told TASS about it on Monday.

The corresponding agreement was signed during the visit of an Indian business delegation to Moscow.

"The two organizations will cooperate to arrange exhibitions, buyers-sellers’ meetings, workshops, seminars and encourage enterprises to work in tandem with their counterparts for joint ventures," Sahai said.

He specified that the signed document provides for the promotion of bilateral trade in the agricultural sector. Sahai stressed that the two countries have "an opportunity to push exports exponentially."

"We have to diversify exports to automobiles and auto components, electronics, medical devices, solar cells, textile, food and agriculture etc," he specified.

As FIEO told TASS earlier, a large delegation of Indian businessmen arrived in Russia to hold meetings with Russian importers and companies to strengthen business ties between the two countries. The agenda includes a large number of meetings with Russian importers and companies in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Last week, 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."