Addressing the meeting held under the auspices of the All India Association of Industries (AIAI) with L I Klebanov, first vice-governor of St Petersburg who led a Russian delegation from St Petersburg comprising industrialists and government officials, Budnik hoped that trade will be further strengthen between India and Russia since it has been in principal agreed upon that only 50 per cent of the outstanding debt would be auctioned and the balance 50 per cent will be used for buying essential commodities from India such as food products, pharmaceuticals and other requirements.

Kalantri further added that the AIAI is proposing to lead a delegation to Russia and the CIS countries for promoting bilateral trade. The delegation of StPetersburg comprised government officials and heads of the leading corporations in the fields of research, stock, food, metallurgical, health care, export promotion and others.