Moscow, April 18 ( /Sputnik) The Russian capital increased its bilateral trade with India in 2021 by 62.7 per cent to $4.5 billion, Moscow’s deputy mayor for economic policy, Vladimir Efimov, said on Monday. “Russia is one of India’s main partners. Priority is given to the expansion of the bilateral trade and economic cooperation. In 2021, the trade turnover between the countries increased by 46.5 per cent compared to 2020, with Moscow accounting for a third. Last year, the trade turnover between the capital and the country increased by 62.7 per cent and amounted to almost $4.5 billion,” the statement said. Moscow’s exports to India reached $2.3 billion in 2021, which is about twice as much as the year before, nearly 50 per cent of it are industrial goods, Efimov added. “In 2021, the capital boosted the supply of industrial sector products to India by 46.1 per cent — up to about $955 million. Such dynamics is stipulated by high growth rates of exports of various electrical devices and comm cations systems. A promising direction for the development of external trade is, in particular, measurement systems, since India is steadily increasing the number of purchases of such goods,” Vladislav Ovchinsky, Moscow department of investment and industrial policy chief, said. The statement added that imports from India to Moscow in 2021 were almost $2.2 billion, including medicines, clothes, electrical appliances and comm cations equipment, as well as goods of industrial and agricultural sectors. In May 1992, Russia and India signed an Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation, which upgraded the economic ties between the countries but brought only a slight increase in trade volume. In 2000, the Declaration on the India-Russia Strategic Partnership was signed, deepening cooperation on all levels, including economically. /SPUTNIK MYK SY 1233