Russia, India eying prospects for joint shipbuilding venture: Putin

Vladivostok: Russia and India are looking into the possibility of launching a joint ship building venture, Russian President Vladimir Putin said here on Thursday.

"Yesterday, we spoke with the Prime Minister [of India]. We are exploring the chances of starting up a joint venture. Maybe, some vessels will be built by us," Putin said a day after he held wide-ranging summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enhance bilateral ties here in the Far Eastern port city.

Putin noted that international cooperation [in shipbuilding] was flourishing globally.

"They (ships) will be partially built by us and partially fine-tuned by India's shipyards," the Russian president said during the Eastern Economic Forum where prime minister Modi was the chief guest.

Putin recalled that on Wednesday, he and Prime Minister Modi visited the Zvezda shipyard here and met senior officials of the facility. Putin noted that Russian oil giant Rosneft owns one of India's major oil refineries. "It [Rosneft] has recently purchased a controlling stake, and controls one of India's major ports.

He was referring to Rosneft's purchase in 2017 of Essar Oil, which operates in Vadinar oil refinery in Gujarat and some 5,500 petrol pumps, and a port for $12.9 billion.