Russia and India can perform a ‘Green Channel’ to boost their economic cooperation
Dmitry Rogozin has made his second visit to India in less than a month to meet his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj. They discussed the current progress of the two countries' cooperation, and further steps to strengthen the bilateral cooperation. An idea of the 'Green Channel' allowing trusted companies to go through customs easily was among the items of the meeting.
The idea of the 'Green Channel' was one of the items of the meeting of the Minister of External Affairs of India Sushma Swaraj and the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin, according to The Economic Times. The meeting took place in New Delhi on 13 September 2016 before the October annual summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The idea means a facilitated customs procedure for the companies from both countries, which are recognised as 'bona fide participants in foreign economic activities'. Actually, it is supposed to comprise a list of the enterprises and entrepreneurs whose goods will be free from the customs inspection while crossing the Russian-Indian borders. Certainly, a company pretending to get in this registry should meet a set of criteria such as the absence of any administrative violations or unpaid customs duty. If the company meets all the requirements, it gets an individual number in the 'green channel' registry, and this number is then used to sign an electronic pre-declaration for each cargo.
Besides the facilitated customs regime concerning the cargo itself as well as its paperwork (e.g. it will be not necessary to provide the original documents but their copies only), it is supposed to create a separate post with a special inspector to serve the 'green channel' traffic.
Russia is already realising similar projects with China, Finland, Italy and Turkey as 'green channels' are an effective way to strengthen the international trade relationship. The volume of the Indo-Russian trade is now estimated at $10 billion, and it is expected to reach $30 billion by 2025. There is also a plan to increase a mutual investment from $10bn to $15bn by the same year. The existing cooperation covers many sectors such as civil aviation, mining and fertilisers. And it is planned to expand the partnership. For instance, Tatarstan's truck manufacturer KAMAZ intends to open a division in India.
India, for its part, is interested in the participation in the development of iron ore and coal mines in Russia. Expansion of their presence in the Russian oil and gas sector is another topic the state is interested in. The volume of the Indian investments could attain $15 billion in a five-year term.
Rogozin and Swaraj also discussed the possibility of accelerating negotiations of the Joint Study Group on the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the Customs Union (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan), the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), and the modernisation of Chabahar seaport to improve connection between India and Russia through Central Asia.