Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday assured India of supplies of energy and fertilisers amid disruptions caused by the West Asia conflict, even as external affairs minister S Jaishankar highlighted the need to address the growing imbalance in two-way trade that has soared to $50 billion.
Putin pointed out that bilateral trade has increased this year, after declining slightly in 2025, and said Russia is increasing fertiliser supplies to India. Jaishankar said Modi hopes Putin will attend the Brics Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13. Progress on market access, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, strengthening payment mechanisms and stronger business-to-business engagement will be critical for addressing this imbalance and achieving our shared objective of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030,” Jaishankar said at the start of the meeting.
Putin’s expected meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Kyrgyzstan this month and on the sidelines of the Brics Summit in New Delhi in September figured in a meeting between the Russian leader and Jaishankar in Moscow. Jaishankar is in Russia to co-chair a meeting of the Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC). We are increasing these supplies and are ready to do so further. He also handed over a personal message from Modi to Putin. The summit is expected to focus on global economic and political challenges, and expanding multilateral cooperation among Brics member states.
He noted that any important issues had figured in the IRIGC-TEC meeting and said: “One of these issues is not only energy – it is, of course, the supply of fertilisers…We are doing everything to resolve this issue for Indian farmers, for agriculture. The two sides are also making progress on cooperation in nuclear energy and high-tech, Putin said. “Prime Minister Modi looks forward to meeting you at the SCO Summit and also hopes that you will have the opportunity to come to the Brics Summit and host this annual summit,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying by state-run TASS news agency. People familiar with the matter said Putin is expected to attend the Brics Summit, along with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Jaishankar pointed out that a more than four-fold increase in bilateral trade in goods — from $13 billion in 2021-22 to nearly $60 billion in 2025-26 — had been “accompanied by a significant widening of the trade imbalance” from $6.6 billion to more than $50 billion While co-chairing the IRIGC-TEC meeting with Russia’s first deputy prime minister Denis Manturov.
“Addressing this imbalance is today one of our foremost priorities.
