A pipeline stretching from Russia, moving through the Central Asia to South Asia and finally to China - it may be only a pipedream but a top Indian energy official made a strong pitch for it at a meeting of business leaders from India, Russia and China here Saturday.

A group of business leaders from the three countries attended the first Trilateral Conference on 'Strengthening Economic Cooperation' organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), two leading business lobbies.

With 40 percent of the world population and one-fifth of the global economy among them, the idea of holding a joint forum had been hibernating for over two years, since it was first announced by the foreign ministers of the three countries in 2005.

Addressing the conference, ONGC Videsh Limited director (exploration) J. Thomas, suggested the tri-nation pipeline project and made out a strong case for India-China investment in the Russian energy sector.

With India and China among the top energy consumers and Russia being an energy surplus nation, he asserted that there was need to look at energy corridors among the three countries.

'We are currently involved in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline. Why can't we extend this to Russia on one side and China on the other?' said Thomas.

He mentioned Russia's plan for the East Siberian Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, which will pump crude oil from Siberian fields to consumers in China and Japan. 'We should look at the pipeline proposal (among India, Russia and China) seriously,' he said.

There are already bilateral collaborations between the three countries, for example, China and India in Syria, Sudan and Colombia; and India and Russia in Sakhalin - but a trilateral project is still a dream.

Inaugurating the conference, Nalin Surie, secretary (West) in the ministry of external affairs, said it was now imperative on the part of entrepreneurs and businessmen of India, China and Russia to drive the Track II initiative and bring it to fruition.

'The huge economic potential of Russia, India and China, the growth rates of our economies, which are the highest in the world, and complementarity of our intensive development provide bright prospects for our business communities to find mutually beneficial spheres of interaction,' said Vladimir I. Trubnikov, the Russian envoy to India.

It was also emphasized that the increased business collaboration could only occur if there were more opportunities for communication. This was underlined by G.G. Petrov, vice president of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, who called for setting up a platform for information exchange among businesses 'for any meaningful trilateral cooperation'.

The trilateral business forum will be held once in two years, with next meeting in China in 2009.

Subscribe to daily press alerts via email »