Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that he is doing the “right thing” by promoting the Make in India programme. Putin made the remarks while speaking at the 8th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in response to a media query on Russian-made cars.
Putin stated that domestically made automobiles must be used and India has already set examples through its policies under the leadership of PM Modi. "...I guess in this regard, we should learn from many partners of ours, namely our partners in India. They are mostly focusing on production and use of the cars and vessels produced in India. And in this regard, Prime Minister Modi is doing the right thing by encouraging people to use the brand Made In India. We have those vehicles available as well, and we should make use of it..."
He said, "You know, we did not have domestically made cars then, but we do now. It is true that they look more modest than Mercedes or Audi cars, which we bought in vast amounts in the 1990s, but this is not an issue. I think that we should emulate many of our partners, for example, India. They are focused on the manufacture and use of Indian-made vehicles. I think that Prime Minister Modi is doing the right thing in promoting the Make in India programme. He is right."
Putin stated that it is absolutely fine to use Russian-made automobiles. "We have [Russian-made] automobiles, and we must use them; this is absolutely fine. This will not lead to any infringements of our WTO obligations, absolutely not. It will concern state purchases. We must create a certain chain regarding what cars different classes of officials can drive, so that they will use domestically-made cars," Putin said in Vladivostok, according to a transcript of the plenary session posted on Kremlin's website.
"You probably know about the proposals to continue buying these cars. It would be easy to do, because the logistics are streamlined," he added. The Russian President also talked about the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and said that he sees nothing in it that can hinder Russia and that the project according to him will benefit Russia.
Speaking at the forum, Puton said, the United States jumped into the “last car” by agreeing with the European Union, Saudi Arabia and India on the creation of a new economic corridor but the project itself is for the benefit of Russia, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
The Russian President said that the IMEC would help his country develop logistics and added that the project had been under discussion for several years. His remarks came after India, the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union on Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.
Speaking at the forum, Putin said, "I believe that this will only benefit us. I believe that this will only help us develop logistics. Firstly, this project has been discussed for a long time, for several years."
"True, the Americans jumped on this train at the last moment. But for them, I don’t see much point in being in this project. Only, perhaps, from the point of view of business interest. Meanwhile, the additional movement of goods along this corridor is, in fact, an addition to our North-South project. We have nothing here we see something that could somehow hinder us,” he added.