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[Global Times Special Correspondent Liu Zhi, Global Times Reporter Ni Hao] On July 28, an Indian official said that Indian Commerce Minister Sunil Buttwal recently held a bilateral meeting with the Russian Minister of Economic Development and others during the 14th BRICS Trade Ministers' Meeting held in Moscow, mainly to discuss bilateral trade issues. This meeting between Indian and Russian ministers is of great significance because the two heads of state have decided to increase bilateral trade to US$100 billion by 2030. Obviously, this runs counter to the US plan.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review on the 28th, the two leaders have formulated an ambitious plan to increase the bilateral trade volume to US$100 billion by 2030, an increase of about 50% from the current US$66 billion. The report said that the Indian and Russian plan has caused concern in the United States. Earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Modi visited Russia. This was Modi's first visit to Russia since the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

On July 9, 2024, local time, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks in Moscow. (Visual China)

Indian Commerce Minister Bhatwal said on July 15: "We are studying cooperation with Russia in various fields, such as the export of electronic products, engineering products and other items, as well as oil imports." India also asked Russia to investigate certain non-tariff barriers faced by Indian exporters, mainly in the fields of agricultural products and medicines. Regarding the US concerns about India-Russia economic and trade cooperation, India said that India, like many other countries, attaches importance to its strategic autonomy.

Russia's TASS news agency recently reported that Russian presidential aide Oreshkin said that the trade development trend between the two countries is very good and this goal will definitely be achieved. The report said that Russia has now become India's fourth largest trading partner, second only to the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates.

The United States expressed dissatisfaction with India's strengthening cooperation with Russia. According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant on the 25th, the US Treasury Department warned Indian banks that Washington may impose sanctions on Indian banks suspected of cooperating with Russian military-industrial enterprises. US Deputy Secretary of State Campbell had previously stated that India's relationship with Russia has affected US-India technological cooperation.

In this regard, Liu Xiaoxue, an associate researcher at the Institute of Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with the Global Times on the 29th that the growth of India-Russia trade will mainly be achieved through India's increased exports to Russia. For example, India's advantageous export commodities include seafood, medicines, electronic products, machinery and equipment, and chemical products.

However, Liu Xiaoxue believes that if India hopes to expand exports to Russia, these products must be sufficiently competitive in the international market, for example, they must be cheaper and of higher quality than products from other regions, in order to be accepted by the Russian market.

It is worth noting that despite a series of economic sanctions imposed by Western countries, the Russian economy has not collapsed, but has shown signs of overheating. The Financial Times reported on July 26 that driven by the growth of Russia's defense industry and other factors, Russia has unexpectedly seen a consumption boom, and the economy is facing the risk of overheating. This year, Russians' real wages will increase by a further 3.5%, and real disposable income will increase by 3%. In the first five months of this year, Russia's GDP grew by 5% compared with the same period last year.