India and Russia had signed IGA last year at the annual summit held in Vladivostok for manufacturing of spare parts of Russian defence equipment supplied to India

New Delhi: India has expressed hope that the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with Russia to manufacture spare parts of defence equipment here will be operationalised soon.

“Despite the complexities of the Coronavirus pandemic, India felt it was very important for us to come and participate in ARMY-2020. We would have liked to have participated with a much bigger delegation," Indian ambassador to Russia DB Venkatesh Varma told Russian magazine ‘New Defence Order Strategy’.

He pointed out that India would have liked its participation to be bigger at the exhibition, but at least there is some participation and this is of great significance considering the global situation. The Indian Delegation at ARMY-2020 is headed by Raj Kumar, the Secretary of Defence The forum, organised by the Russian Defence Ministry, is being held from August 23-29.

Besides the exhibition the forum is also hosting discussions among global military officials, researchers and defence industry experts about the application of 3D technologies in designing, manufacturing and operating weapons and military equipment,

The Indian Secretary of Defence Production held meetings with the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), Rosoboronexport and the Russian deputy minister for Industry and Trade Oleg Ryazansev. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov and the CEO of Rostec Sergey Chemezov Visited India's pavilion on the first day of the Forum.

"A number of issues were discussed. We were very happy to see the positive support that Russia has extended to India’s “Make In India” program. We have signed an intergovernmental agreement on the manufacturing of spare parts of Russian equipment supplied to India, now these spare parts will be manufactured in India. Now a number of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on both sides are in touch with each other; this is a big step forward," Varma pointed out.

India and Russia had signed IGA last year at the annual summit held in Vladivostok for manufacturing of spare parts of Russian defence equipment supplied to India.

With regard to US reservations on S-400 systems that Russia will supply to India, Varma said, "India has a strategic partnership with Russia that has been longstanding. Recently we have established relationship of strategic partnership with the United States. We do not see any contradiction between the two. India would like to promote relations with both Russia and the United States. With respect to defence cooperation, India is an independent country, we make decisions on each case based on its own merits, and I’m sure that both Russia and the United States respect the fact that India makes such decisions in its own interest."