India wants stronger trade ties with Russia 

 Trade between Russia and India currently does not exceed $4 billion a year, Kanwal Sibal, India’s ambassador to Russia, told reporters on Monday.
He noted that this was too little for two countries with rapidly growing economies.
 
The Indian diplomat said Russia and India could cooperate in various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, car making, customer services and IT.
He pointed to India's role in cutting Russian diamonds.
According to Sibal, India is able to process more than 80 percent of the global diamond supply, while Russia holds about a quarter of the world’s diamond reserves.
Both countries would benefit from such cooperation, he stressed.

Speaking about energy cooperation, Sibal called it a promising sector.
It is in this area that Russia and India could expand their trade tries, he believes.

The future of the Russian-Indian ties largely depends upon the participation of Russian entrepreneurs in Indian markets, Sibal noted, urging Russia’s private sector to pay more attention to the opportunities that the Indian market provides.
He said Russia enjoyed a positive image in India.
Russian-Indian relations are based on trust, which is at peak levels, according to the ambassador.

He said India welcomed Gazprom’s participation in the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and India, expressing hope that Gazprom’s experience will help ensure security of the pipeline project.
Despite some problems in negotiations with Pakistan, India’s government has decided to go ahead with the project, Sibal noted.

Iran, India and Pakistan were expected to sign a key agreement on the pipeline construction and costs in June 2007, but the talks dragged on.
In addition, Washington is strongly opposed to the project, while political tensions between India and Pakistan are another problem, but both countries are doing their best to resolve the issue.
The construction of the more than 2,300km pipeline is estimated at about $7.5 billion, and is expected to go online in 2011.