Moscow confirms India considering free trade zone with Eurasian Economic Union

[Darmashkian]

Moscow confirms India considering free trade zone with Eurasian Economic Union


India has proposed creating a free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia, said Alexey Pushkov, head of the International Committee of Russian State Duma.

"The question was raised by India, which is now considering a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union. This is a new level in our relationship. The possibility is being discussed," he told reporters Friday during an official visit to New Delhi.

On Thursday TASS reported that India will start negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan within the next six months.



Read more
India to negotiate free trade zone with Russia-led Customs Union


The Eurasian Economic Union of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia started functioning in January 2015.

READ MORE: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan sign ‘epoch' Eurasian Economic Union

The organization was created on the skeleton of the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus is aimed at improving regional economic cooperation. The group has a population of 171 million people and a GDP of nearly $3 trillion. In the near future the union is expected to be joined by Kyrgyzstan.

China has also said it is willing to join a free trade zone with Eurasian Economic Union.

​Moscow confirms India considering free trade zone with Eurasian Economic Union — RT Business

@sancho @Abingdonboy @SarthakGanguly @MokshaVimukthi @SpArK @Chanakya's_Chant @anant_s @Agent_47 @nair @TejasMk3 @Tshering22

Could someone tag the Russian Members, Please?? I forgot their IDs..

 

[Mike_Brando]

@vostok ,@senheiser , @Barmaley guys what's your take in this matter???

 

[anant_s]

Connectivity is an issue central Asian countries would like to address. As the picture shows above, there are huge resources of Gas in the region and India would want to get it in for our fertilizer and power plants. Similarly countries like Kazakhstan would want a direct rail road to access ports in India, Iran and Pakistan. If countries in region (specifically Afghanistan) can ensure that above projects are executed, the region is going to benefit tremendously.
I think one pipeline project negotiations are already underway to bring Natural gas from central Asia to Indian Border with Pakistan.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

Sniff sniff. I zmell oil.

 

[unbiasedopinion]

I think one pipeline project negotiations are already underway to bring Natural gas from central Asia to Indian Border with Pakistan.

What if the pipeline is laid through China towards India? That belt of afghanistan and pakistan has been an issue due to terrorists acitivities especially anti-Indian activities. Where from Chain, we can atleast be sure that they will no do anything stupid which will hurt their economics.

I think one pipeline project negotiations are already underway to bring Natural gas from central Asia to Indian Border with Pakistan.

What if the pipeline is laid through China towards India? That belt of afghanistan and pakistan has been an issue due to terrorists acitivities especially anti-Indian activities. Where from Chain, we can atleast be sure that they will no do anything stupid which will hurt their economics.

Make Russia - China - India Pipeline.

 

[anant_s]

What if the pipeline is laid through China towards India? That belt of afghanistan and pakistan has been an issue due to terrorists acitivities especially anti-Indian activities. Where from Chain, we can atleast be sure that they will no do anything stupid which will hurt their economics.


What if the pipeline is laid through China towards India? That belt of afghanistan and pakistan has been an issue due to terrorists acitivities especially anti-Indian activities. Where from Chain, we can atleast be sure that they will no do anything stupid which will hurt their economics.

Make Russia - China - India Pipeline.

Purely from economic sense good idea but how will the line cross Himalayan range is a big engineering challenge considering that region sees high seismic activity
This will gave bearing on cost
In my opinion a line from central Asia through Iran and Pakistan ending in India is most straightforward path.

Some gas too

Sniff sniff. I zmell oil.

 

[Echo_419]

Purely from economic sense good idea but how will the line cross Himalayan range is a big engineering challenge considering that region sees high seismic activity
This will gave bearing on cost
In my opinion a line from central Asia through Iran and Pakistan ending in India is most straightforward path.

Some gas too

Tech is advanced enough the only thing required is political will

 

[sancho]

Moscow confirms India considering free trade zone with Eurasian Economic Union


India has proposed creating a free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia, said Alexey Pushkov, head of the International Committee of Russian State Duma.

"The question was raised by India, which is now considering a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union. This is a new level in our relationship. The possibility is being discussed," he told reporters Friday during an official visit to New Delhi...

Very interesting, especially that India took the Initiative!

Connectivity is an issue central Asian countries would like to address. As the picture shows above, there are huge resources of Gas in the region and India would want to get it in for our fertilizer and power plants. Similarly countries like Kazakhstan would want a direct rail road to access ports in India, Iran and Pakistan. If countries in region (specifically Afghanistan) can ensure that above projects are executed, the region is going to benefit tremendously.
I think one pipeline project negotiations are already underway to bring Natural gas from central Asia to Indian Border with Pakistan.

The problem is the instability in the region, the easiest and obvious choice for Russia would be to take benefit of the Caspian Sea and a route through Iran. That's however was politically difficult since the west would protest on supporting Iran, which logically would benefit financially from such a move, which counters UN sanctions.
The other choice is Afghanistan, which however is nowhere close to be stable at this point. Even the idea to include Pakistan to gain political stability in the region, remains an uncertain one, especially for India, since no intend to improve relations from Pakistani side are visible and our new government is making things worse on it's own.

I still think that we have to see Iran with our own, independent interests in mind and not from the point of view of the US / NATO. Improving ties to them and Afghanistan can be a huge factor for Indias energy and trade future, but also for the stability in the region. India needs to be a middle man between Iran and other countries and have to put more effort on political solutions, because being able to deal with Iran, without pissing of the west and maybe even more important, the Gulf countries that feels threatened by Iran, is in our interest!

 

[anant_s]

Tech is advanced enough the only thing required is political will

No I'm not questioning the technology availability but seismic design leads to increase in project cost.
As u say if there is political consensus, there is easier route available that will reduce cost of project as well as execution time.

Very interesting, especially that India took the Initiative!



The problem is the instability in the region, the easiest and obvious choice for Russia would be to take benefit of the Caspian Sea and a route through Iran. That's however was politically difficult since the west would protest on supporting Iran, which logically would benefit financially from such a move, which counters UN sanctions.
The other choice is Afghanistan, which however is nowhere close to be stable at this point. Even the idea to include Pakistan to gain political stability in the region, remains an uncertain one, especially for India, since no intend to improve relations from Pakistani side are visible and our new government is making things worse on it's own.

I still think that we have to see Iran with our own, independent interests in mind and not from the point of view of the US / NATO. Improving ties to them and Afghanistan can be a huge factor for Indias energy and trade future, but also for the stability in the region. India needs to be a middle man between Iran and other countries and have to put more effort on political solutions, because being able to deal with Iran, without pissing of the west and maybe even more important, the Gulf countries that feels threatened by Iran, is in our interest!

I want to comment on Iran here.
Considering Putin is at loggerhead with west in general, he can use any opportunity including supporting Iran to tease west.
As for us I guess India must be clear with US that we do not gave luxury of choosing options as far as gas and energy is concerned.
It might irritate Obama but it is important to keep our interests first. We have had a fairly independent foreign policy and we must preserve it at any cost even in these times of changes in international dynamics for India.

 

[sancho]

I want to comment on Iran here.
Considering Putin is at loggerhead with west in general, he can use any opportunity including supporting Iran to tease west.

Putins problem is not the west as such, but the US and them pushing NATO closer to Russian borders. He still needs the EU as markets for Russian Oil and Gas, just as he pushed hard in the recent years to deepen not only economic and political ties, but even defence industrial once. All this now is suffering because of the Ukraine conflict and he can't afford to make things worse with Europe, by openly supporting Iran again and that will be the main problem for any projects from Central Asia towards India. There was a underwater pipeline project from Iran, over Oman to India if i remember correctly, that could had been extended to the Caspian Sea too, which also shows that Iran geographically would be a key for India to access Central Asia.

 

[ganesh177]

No matter how costly it gets india should go for underwater pipeline with iran. We cannot trust pakistan in any pipe line project, be it tapi or ipi or something else.

 

[Kompromat]

Please buy a larger fleet of transport air crafts. You will not be crossing our country untill there is a piece in it for us.

No matter how costly it gets india should go for underwater pipeline with iran. We cannot trust pakistan in any pipe line project, be it tapi or ipi or something else.

Iran is already very happy over Indian back stabbing in IPI and Chahbahar.

 

[anant_s]

Iran is already very happy over Indian back stabbing in IPI and Chahbahar.

Both were big lost opportunities for India, when government came under US pressure.
It is in our interest to support any project bringing in gas from central Asia to India. This will benefit all participant nations and the economic benefits of the project will be security guaranty for the pipeline.
It is a question of political will and understanding.