December 22, 2010 By James Kimer

Mr. Medvedev’s Trip to Bollywood

medved122210.jpgDmitry Medvedev has had an action-packed trip to Mumbai.  Accompanied by a delegation of some 100 state businessmen, the Russian president arrived in Delhi to announce his high regard for their “privileged” partnership, and urged that the two countries work hard to keep it that way.

Keeping with standard practices, the trip featured an orgy of conventions, agreements, and pacts, including the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which aims to raise bilateral trade to the $20 billion by 2015.

Energy is always a top interest for the Indians, and from generation to exploration to trade, the Russians are an important partner. Though it currently produces only 4.7 gigawatts of nuclear power, India has plans to grow to 60 gigawatts by 2035 with Russia’s help. To reach this goal, an agreement to construct two generating units at Kudankulam; a power plant in India where Russia already has two reactors. The state-owned Oil India asked for Gazprom’s help to develop two natural gas fields, while ONGC began seriously flirting with Sistema to get some equity shares of Russian oil assets.