The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in partnership with Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) are planning to send a business delegation to Russia on the occasion of 7th India-Russia Trade and Investment Forum to be held at St. Petersburg from September 19 & 20.

The main focus of the business delegation is to explore trade and investment opportunities in the areas of healthcare, pharmaceuticals. In addition to this the business delegation will also focus on trade relations between two countries in the areas of commodities, medical tourism, chemicals, oil and gas, agriculture & food processing, fertilizer, manufacturing, ICT/ITES, technology sharing, gems & jewellery and education.

The India Russia Trade & Investment Forum is the most important annual business engagement at the bilateral level with Russia. This Forum is alternately held in India and Russia.

Anand Sharma, minister of Commerce & Industry will co-chair this forum from the Indian side along with Dmitry Rogozin, deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation, who is also head of the Russian party of Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission on trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation from the Russian side.

While this time the delegation is mainly focused on healthcare and pharmaceutical areas more, it also includes delegates multiple sectors who will also pitch on other areas like medical tourism, gems & jewellery, engineering goods, manufacturing, agriculture & food processing, fertilizer, ICT/ITES, technology, chemicals, automotives, oil & gas, education etc.

At large the agenda of this upcoming visit would be seminar and Business to Business (B2B) meetings with Russian companies.

“In the past, the India Russia Trade and Investment forum has provided great opportunities to network with Russian businesses. The forum this year is being held in St Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia, an attractive tourist destination and a vibrant city of art, historic architecture & Russian heritage,” said Nirankar Saxena, senior director, FICCI.

As this visit will give the Indian delegates a great opportunity to build stronger business relations with healthcare and pharmaceutical companies in Russia, the Indian companies and individual entrepreneurs especially in the fields of pharmaceutical and biotechnology will have to register themselves with FICCI on or before August 26, 2013 to participate in the bilateral trade relations Forum.