MOSCOW (AP) _ The presidents of Russia and India on
Thursday pledged to increase the volume of trade between
their huge nations to $10 billion next year.
    Meeting with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev in the
Kremlin during her first visit to Russia, Indian President
Pratibha Patil said India's economy had focused too much on
Western markets and consumers in the past «while ignoring
the great potential that always existed» between India and
Russia.
    Patil announced that the two countries set a goal to boost
the bilateral trade to $10 billion in 2010. Medvedev
expressed confidence that this target as feasible «in the
nearest term.»
    Trade between Russian and India came to $7 billion in
2008, and Medvedev said it increased by 15 percent in the
first five months of this year, despite the economic
downturn.
    Russia's major exports to India are steel, iron, coal,
paper and military hardware, while India's main exports to
Russia are food, clothing and pharmaceuticals.
    Russian news agencies quoted Sergei Chemezov, head of
state-run industrial giant Russian Technologies, as saying
on the sidelines of the talks that the two countries would
sign a new agreement this month on a Soviet aircraft
carrier which Russia pledged in 2004 to refurbish and
deliver to India. Moscow has repeatedly pushed back the
projected delivery date and raised costs for the
refurbishment.
    Russia and India enjoyed warm relations in the Soviet
times, but the ties visibly soured in the 1990s.