Medvedev’s modernization alliance with India

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to India drew to a close on Wednesday. The Indian public will, very likely, remember it for its final part: a meeting with students in Mumbai that gained extensive local media coverage. 

It has of late become something of a tradition for all foreign heads of state to drop by a school or college in an attempt to leave a lasting impression on the younger generations, because India is the whole world’s future. And it is in their hands.

But there are many different kinds of schools and colleges. Medvedev met with the students and staff of the Indian Institute of Technology. It was an auspicious choice, a signal as to where the program’s priorities lie. 

The key words – modernization cooperation – were also uttered by Medvedev at a news conference on Tuesday, the previous day, also during his Indian visit: “We're really looking forward to the modernization component of our cooperation, and this issue is always on the table, as they say. I would like to emphasise once again that the structure of Russia’s trade turnover can be different with different states, and I must admit that it is not always satisfactory because energy resources often dominate Russia’s turnover.

But this concerns “different countries.” With India, a little miracle has happened. Over 50% of all bilateral trade between Russia and India involves innovation and technological products. This is precisely what Russia tried – and failed – to achieve with China, with many other nations and even with EU countries. Incidentally, this high-tech focus became apparent during this current presidential visit. Previously, it was either ignored, or was not so apparent.

High-tech bonanza

The “modernization” slant of our cooperation seems to have developed independently and organically. Suffice it to say that a couple of years before Vladimir Putin, then president, paid his historic visit to India in 2000, both Moscow and New Delhi had only a vague idea of how their cooperation should develop. The previous arrangement (oil and weapons in exchange for tea and coffee) had collapsed, and the outlook was uncertain. The Putin-Vajpayee plan (Vajpayee was India’s prime minister at that time) envisaged a broad agenda. Initially, however, progress was only reported in arms supplies, and Russian-Indian relations came to be seen as slanted in that direction.

Look at what we are now seeing in New Delhi. Just run through the topics discussed and the documents signed: a new comprehensive long-term cooperation program between the two governments in science, technology and innovation; a joint working document on establishing a Russian-Indian technological center; a memorandum of understanding between the Russian state corporation Rosatom and the Indian government’s Department of Atomic Energy on expanding scientific and technological cooperation over the peaceful uses of nuclear energy; a memorandum of cooperation on information technology and cooperation in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector. Then there was the widely reported contract for a preliminary design for a multi-role fighter plane. In addition, Russia and India are cooperating on the joint use of the Russian satellite navigation system GLONASS. An artificial Moon satelllite, Chandrayaan-2, is under development as a joint project and a small Indian lunar rover will be added to the project.

Thus, it seems the visit was virtually wholly focused on modernization cooperation.

This almost eclipsed the statement made during the visit that the countries’ prior goal of increasing bilateral trade to $10 billion in 2010 seems likely to be achieved: a side effect, of sorts.        

East or West?

Russia’s innovative development appears to have become the catchphrase for Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency. In the foreign policy arena, his presidency is to date better known for its concept of a “modernization alliance” between Russia and the West, i.e. the EU and the U.S.

Understandably, many are eager to tinge this concept with ideology. They suggest that the innovations Russia needs are currently in European or American hands and therefore Moscow should orientate itself exclusively towards the West in all its politics, ideology and the rest.

But the alliance can also be viewed from a different perspective. Namely, Moscow is pursuing a path of cooperation in the modernization of Russia’s economy because this stands to benefit both sides. It is a reasonable way out of what had been a political dead end. Incidentally, the United States has responded to these calls in the most general terms, while the EU views this “modernization” as its opportunity to step in and improve Russia’s political system and society. Moscow politely returned the document to European Union officials, intimating that it had been expecting a rather different response.

But no one ever said that the West is the only option. As we can clearly see, Russia has kept just such an alliance running with India for several years now, and it is going from strength to strength.

Generally, innovation cannot be considered a kind of magic prize to be sought either in the West or in the East. There are many such prizes, they are all different and many countries have something either to give us or to learn from us. The innovation space is a complex and global affair.

For several years now, research studies have been increasingly clear that the epicenter of industrial and innovatory development in the world economy is shifting from the West to the East. This includes India, which is obsessed with modernization and does not limit itself in this respect to cooperation with Russia alone. This shift is down to the growing activity of many different companies and labs from a wide variety of countries in India. The same is true of politics. Indians do not see Medvedev’s arrival in isolation, but as just one in a series of recent visits – by U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. China’s Premier Wen Jiabao was also in New Delhi shortly before Medvedev’s visit. Incidentally, at $100 billion, China is now India’s leading trading partner, that sum dwarfs India’s trade with Russia, which stands at $10 billion. So this “modernization alliance” on Indian soil is proving to be a truly global phenomenon.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.