Russia developing North-South Corridor for business with India, Iran, and Pakistan: Vladimir Putin

MOSCOW - President Vladimir PutinrecentlysaidRussiaisdeveloping the ambitious North-South Transport Corridor,which will open upnew routes for business cooperation with India, IranandPakistan,aswellasWestAsian countries.

Inhisonehourand45minutesState of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly, Putin also said that Russia will expand promising international economic connections, as well as build new supply corridors, as the US-led West has imposed crippling sanctions forMoscow’sinvasionofUkrainenearly oneyearago.

“We will develop the ports of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, we will particularly focus on the North-South International Corridor,” Putin said, notingthatitwillopenupnewroutesfor business cooperation with India, Iran, Pakistan as well as West Asian countries.

“We will continue developing this corridor,”Putinwasquotedassayingby thestate-runTassnewsagency.

“What areas should the state, regions, and local businesses focus theirpartnershipworkon?First,wewill expand promising international economic connections and build new supply corridors,” he said in the speech days before the Ukraine war’s first anniversaryonFriday,17thFeb.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200km-long multi-mode transport project for moving freight among India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia,CentralAsiaandEurope.

The INSTC is India’s vision and initiative to reduce the time taken for export-import shipments to reach Russia and Europe, and enter the CentralAsianmarkets.

DuringavisittoYerevaninArmenia in October 2021, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar proposed that the strategic Chabahar Port in Iran be included in the North-South Transport Corridorthathasthepotentialtobridge connectivitybarriers.

The Chabahar port in the SistanBalochistan province intheenergy-rich nation’s southern coast is easily accessible from India’s western coast and is increasingly seen as a counter to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port located at a distance of around 80 km from Chabahar.

ThefirstphaseoftheChabaharport was inaugurated in December 2017 by then-Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, opening a new strategic route connecting Iran, India and Afghanistan bypassingPakistan.

The Chabahar port is being considered a gateway to golden opportunities for trade by India, Iran and Afghanistan with Central Asian countries, besides ramping up trade among the three countries in the wake of Pakistan denying transit access to NewDelhi.

Steel imports from Russia touch eight-year high in April-Jan

NEW DELHI - India’s imports of Russian steel rose to an eight-year high during the first 10 months of the financialyearthatbeganinApril2022, Government data compiled by Reutersshowed.

India, the world’s second-largest crude steel producer, imported 281,000 tonnes of steel from Russia between April and January, nearly five times higher than the same periodayearago,thedatashowed.

The rising imports are the result of a shift in Russian steel trade flows to Asia after Western sanctions were imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine last year. The change is displacingsometraditionalsuppliers, and domestic steel producers are raising concerns about potentially losing market share to the lower pricedimports

Moscow was the fourth-biggest steelsuppliertoIndiaduringtheApril toJanuaryperiod,emergingasoneof the top five steel exporters to the country for the first time since the 2016-17fiscalyear,thedatashowed.

Between April and January, about 72 per cent of Moscow’s steel shipments to India constituted hotrolledcoil(HRC)andstrips.

Russia displaced Japan as the second-biggest supplier of HRC to Indiaforthefirsttimeinatleasteight years,thedatashowed.