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New Delhi : The 5th round of India-Russia Military Industrial Conference (IRMIC) was held on February 6, 2020, on the sidelines of Defexpo-2020 at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The conference was co-chaired by Dr Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary from the Indian side, and Oleg Ryazantsev, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Russian Federation.
Dr Ajay Kumar, in his opening remarks, pointed out that the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on joint manufacturing of spares in India was signed at Vladivostok, Russia, on September 4, 2019. The IGA provides framework for partnership of Russian original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with Indian industry for manufacturing of spare parts of Russian origin equipment in use by the Indian Defence Forces. He further elaborated that the Indian side has taken a number of steps to expedite the collaboration between the Indian and Russian Companies and looks forward for expeditious commencement of manufacturing in India.
Russian Deputy Minister Oleg Ryazantsev said that the Russian side would actively participate in the collaborations under the ambit of the IGA and would take all necessary steps to facilitate manufacturing of parts in India.
A large number of delegates from Indian and Russian defence sector companies participated at the conference and discussed the way forward to achieve the objectives of Inter-Governmental Agreement under the Make in India initiative, according to a PIB release.
During the conference, a total of 14 MoUs were exchanged between the Russian OEMs and the Indian companies. The first ‘Request for Proposal’ for manufacturing of parts in India under the provision of IGA was also handed over by the Indian Navy to the identified Indian industry. The sides acknowledged that this would pave way for more cases and contracts for joint manufacturing of spares parts in the days ahead.