Vladivostok, Russia:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies in the Russian port city of Vladivostok, saying Prime Minister Modi was simply doing the “right thing” by promoting the Make in India program.

He made these comments during his speech at the 8th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in response to a media query about Russian-made cars.

Putin said domestically manufactured cars must be used and India has already set an example through its policies led by Prime Minister Modi.

Speaking at the forum, Putin said: “You know, we didn’t have domestically produced cars then, but we do now. It is true that they look more modest than Mercedes or Audi cars, which we bought in bulk back in the 1990s, but that’s not a problem. I think we should emulate many of our partners, for example India. They focus on manufacturing and deploying vehicles made in India. I think Prime Minister Modi is doing the right thing in promoting the Make in India program. He’s right.”

He said it was absolutely fine to use Russian-made cars.

“We have [Russian-made] cars, and we have to use them; that’s absolutely fine. This will in no way result in breaches of our WTO obligations. It will be government purchases. “We need to create a certain chain about which cars different classes of officials are allowed to drive so that they use domestically produced cars,” Putin said, according to a transcript of the Vladivostok plenary session published on the Kremlin website.

“You are probably familiar with the proposals to continue buying these cars. That would be easy because the logistics are streamlined,” he added.

In addition, the Russian president spoke at length about how he sees nothing in the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) that could hinder Russia and, in his opinion, the project benefits Russia.

The United States jumped into the “last wagon” by agreeing with the European Union, Saudi Arabia and India to create a new economic corridor, but the project itself is for the benefit of Russia, Putin said during his speech at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), as quoted by Russian news agency TASS.

The Russian president said that IMEC will help his country develop logistics, adding that the project has been discussed for several years.

His comments came after India, the US, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi to establish the India-Middle East region signed the European Economic Corridor.

At the forum, Putin said: “I believe that this will only benefit us. I believe it will only help us develop logistics further. Firstly, this project has been discussed for a long time, for several years.”

“It’s true that the Americans jumped on this bandwagon at the last moment. But I don’t see much point for them to take part in this project. Maybe just from a business perspective. Meanwhile, the additional movement of “delivery of goods along this corridor is indeed complementary to our North-South project. We have nothing here, we see something that could somehow hinder us,” he added.

India, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the European Union on Saturday (September 9) announced a historic agreement to soon open a massive shipping and rail corridor linking India, the Middle East and Europe.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the ambitious project on the sidelines of the G20 summit, which took place under the Indian presidency in New Delhi.

This is a first-of-its-kind connectivity and infrastructure collaboration initiative involving India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, EU, France, Italy, Germany and the US.

After the inauguration, Prime Minister Modi said, “I warmly welcome you all to this event. I am thrilled to co-chair this event with my friend, President Joe Biden. Today we have all witnessed the conclusion of a historic and important agreement. “In the coming days, it will be an effective medium of economic integration between India, South Asia and Europe.”

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