Union minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday described Russian Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov as “dashing” during a light-hearted exchange at the India-Russia Business Dialogue in New Delhi, adding that the Russian minister could soon find himself starring in Bollywood.
“My friend, colleague and the dashing Honourable Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, His Excellency Mr Anton Alekhanov. I was telling him he is probably in the wrong profession. We should expand our audiovisual cooperation. Follow BRICS Summit LIVE updates here. The remark came as India and Russia discussed ways to deepen their economic and industrial partnership, with Goyal saying negotiations for a new bilateral investment treaty (BIT) were being fast-tracked.
Possibly, we will see him starring in a movie in Bollywood very soon,” Goyal said about Alikhanov at the event held at Bharat Mandapam, as the 18th BRICS Summit gets underway in the national capital. “We (India-Russia) are fast-tracking a new bilateral investment treaty to give investors on both sides the legal certainty that projects and businesses look for when they are finalising investment decisions,” Goyal said.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira also arrived in New Delhi to attend the summit, representing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who remains in Brazil for his election campaign. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung are among the leaders attending the summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday for a three-day visit to attend the summit and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with trade, investment and energy cooperation expected to be among the areas of discussion.
