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Defence projects, n-plants: India's new envoy to Russia has a huge task ahead
P S Raghavan, who reached Moscow early this morning (13 January) to take charge as the next Indian ambassador to Russia, has an onerous task on hand. Russia is a prime focus country for India. The importance of Russia, a country with which India has traditionally had a very close and strategic partnership for well over four decades, has been accentuated even further for India in the backdrop of recent tensions between India and the United States.
Raghavan, the 1979 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been hand-picked by the Ministry of External Affairs for this sensitive job at a crucial time in Indo-Russian relations when a number of contentious issues demand early resolution. He is taking over at a time when several thorny issues remain unresolved despite very warm political relations between India and Russia. Bilateral trade between the two nations, at $ 12 billion, is well below its true potential.
Key sources well versed with the dynamics of Indo-Russian relations have told this writer that Raghavan's immediate task will be four-fold:
(i) Removing glitches from big-ticket joint defence projects such as the BrahMos missiles and Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft;
(ii) Resolving the ongoing impasse over the 3rd and 4th units of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant;
(iii) Diversifying Indo-Russian cooperation in newer areas and giving a boost to cooperation and joint projects in areas such as fertilizers, agriculture, railways and pharmaceuticals;
(iv) Roping in private sector on both sides to give a fillip to bilateral trade and to find newer areas of investment. Russian Offer to India on GLONASS
This writer drew Raghavan's attention to a 24 December, 2013 report in Izvestia entitled "India and Brazil will be offered a stake in the GLONASS" and sought his comments. The Izvestia report said that the Russian government has formed an international consortium for the development of the Russian satellite navigation system.
According to this report, Roscosmos has been instructed to submit its proposals for the formation of a consortium to the government by the end of February 2014. Raghavan's response was as follows: "I have not seen the Izvestia report yet but will definitely look it up. I met the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) chief K Radhakrishnan a day before this report came out but this issue did not come up in our discussions. This issue has been in the Indo-Russian discourse for about a decade and I remember it came up during my tenure at the Prime Minister's Office. But if something new is coming up we will definitely consider it." 35 years of experience in diplomacy
Raghavan, born in 1955, took a B.Sc Honours degree in Physics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University in 1975 and a B.E. degree in Electronics & Communications Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1978. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979. He brings with him nearly 35 years of experience in diplomacy. Between 1979 and 1994, he held a number of diplomatic positions in the Indian Missions in Moscow (then USSR), Warsaw (Poland) and London (United Kingdom), interspersed with tenures in the MEA headquarters in New Delhi. In 1994, he was appointed Consul General of India in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and in 1997, Deputy High Commissioner of India to South Africa in Pretoria.
A high point in Raghavan's career was his almost five-year-long stint in the PMO where he was posted as joint secretary from 2000 to 2004, dealing with foreign affairs, atomic energy, space, defence and national security. After this he had two ambassadorial stints: to the Czech Republic (2004-2007) and to Ireland (2007-2011). In January 2012, he was appointed head of the newly-created Development Partnership Administration (DPA) in the MEA headquarters. The DPA is charged with the task of ensuring efficient implementation of India's economic partnership programmes in developing countries.
He was Chief Coordinator of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation [IOR-ARC] Ministerial Conference in Bangalore (November 2011) and of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi (March 2012). In July 2012, Raghavan was Special Envoy of the External Affairs Minister to the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa. Considering his experience in African diplomacy, in August 2012, he was made Indian government's Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, his last responsibility before he begins his most challenging assignment of Indian ambassador to Russia. In March 2013, he was promoted as Special Secretary, in which capacity he headed the Development Partnership Administration as well as the Administration, Establishment and other related Divisions of the Ministry of External Affairs.
In October 2013, he was appointed Secretary (Economic Relations). Key Indian officials believe that the fact that Raghavan is an old Russia/Soviet Union hand and has dealt with defence-related issues extensively during his tenure in the PMO should help him significantly in smoothening rough edges in the Indo-Russian defence relationship. The writer is a Firstpost columnist and strategic analyst who tweets @Kishkindha.
Read more at: Defence projects, n-plants: India's new envoy to Russia has a huge task ahead | Firstpost
P S Raghavan, who reached Moscow early this morning (13 January) to take charge as the next Indian ambassador to Russia, has an onerous task on hand. Russia is a prime focus country for India. The importance of Russia, a country with which India has traditionally had a very close and strategic partnership for well over four decades, has been accentuated even further for India in the backdrop of recent tensions between India and the United States.
Raghavan, the 1979 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been hand-picked by the Ministry of External Affairs for this sensitive job at a crucial time in Indo-Russian relations when a number of contentious issues demand early resolution. He is taking over at a time when several thorny issues remain unresolved despite very warm political relations between India and Russia. Bilateral trade between the two nations, at $ 12 billion, is well below its true potential.
Key sources well versed with the dynamics of Indo-Russian relations have told this writer that Raghavan's immediate task will be four-fold:
(i) Removing glitches from big-ticket joint defence projects such as the BrahMos missiles and Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft;
(ii) Resolving the ongoing impasse over the 3rd and 4th units of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant;
(iii) Diversifying Indo-Russian cooperation in newer areas and giving a boost to cooperation and joint projects in areas such as fertilizers, agriculture, railways and pharmaceuticals;
(iv) Roping in private sector on both sides to give a fillip to bilateral trade and to find newer areas of investment. Russian Offer to India on GLONASS
This writer drew Raghavan's attention to a 24 December, 2013 report in Izvestia entitled "India and Brazil will be offered a stake in the GLONASS" and sought his comments. The Izvestia report said that the Russian government has formed an international consortium for the development of the Russian satellite navigation system.
According to this report, Roscosmos has been instructed to submit its proposals for the formation of a consortium to the government by the end of February 2014. Raghavan's response was as follows: "I have not seen the Izvestia report yet but will definitely look it up. I met the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) chief K Radhakrishnan a day before this report came out but this issue did not come up in our discussions. This issue has been in the Indo-Russian discourse for about a decade and I remember it came up during my tenure at the Prime Minister's Office. But if something new is coming up we will definitely consider it." 35 years of experience in diplomacy
Raghavan, born in 1955, took a B.Sc Honours degree in Physics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University in 1975 and a B.E. degree in Electronics & Communications Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1978. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979. He brings with him nearly 35 years of experience in diplomacy. Between 1979 and 1994, he held a number of diplomatic positions in the Indian Missions in Moscow (then USSR), Warsaw (Poland) and London (United Kingdom), interspersed with tenures in the MEA headquarters in New Delhi. In 1994, he was appointed Consul General of India in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and in 1997, Deputy High Commissioner of India to South Africa in Pretoria.
A high point in Raghavan's career was his almost five-year-long stint in the PMO where he was posted as joint secretary from 2000 to 2004, dealing with foreign affairs, atomic energy, space, defence and national security. After this he had two ambassadorial stints: to the Czech Republic (2004-2007) and to Ireland (2007-2011). In January 2012, he was appointed head of the newly-created Development Partnership Administration (DPA) in the MEA headquarters. The DPA is charged with the task of ensuring efficient implementation of India's economic partnership programmes in developing countries.
He was Chief Coordinator of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation [IOR-ARC] Ministerial Conference in Bangalore (November 2011) and of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi (March 2012). In July 2012, Raghavan was Special Envoy of the External Affairs Minister to the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa. Considering his experience in African diplomacy, in August 2012, he was made Indian government's Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, his last responsibility before he begins his most challenging assignment of Indian ambassador to Russia. In March 2013, he was promoted as Special Secretary, in which capacity he headed the Development Partnership Administration as well as the Administration, Establishment and other related Divisions of the Ministry of External Affairs.
In October 2013, he was appointed Secretary (Economic Relations). Key Indian officials believe that the fact that Raghavan is an old Russia/Soviet Union hand and has dealt with defence-related issues extensively during his tenure in the PMO should help him significantly in smoothening rough edges in the Indo-Russian defence relationship. The writer is a Firstpost columnist and strategic analyst who tweets @Kishkindha.
Read more at: Defence projects, n-plants: India's new envoy to Russia has a huge task ahead | Firstpost