RUSSIA, INDIA TALK TRADE.

Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Yarov on Monday led a delegation to the second session of the India-Russian Joint Commission in Delhi. He told reporters he expects trade with India to rise sharply over the next year as the two longtime allies strengthen business relations which were rattled by the breakup of the Soviet Union. The commission, which first met in Moscow in 1994, will tackle bilateral relations in trade, science, technology and culture in four days of intense talks. (3)

India was the former Soviet Union’s main non-communist ally during the Cold War, when Moscow provided Delhi with most of its military equipment and was a faithful buyer of important Indian commodities, such as tea, tobacco and spices. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, two-way trade plunged to $1.1 billion in 1993 from $5.5 billion in 1990. Trade rebounded last year to $1.4 billion and is expected to reach $2 billion this year, but is linked to India’s repayments of debt, which at the end of July stood at 209.7 billion rupees ($6.1 billion).

Expanded Military-Technical Cooperation With Latin America.