Potential for Trilateral Cooperation in the Agricultural Sphere

Abstract

An examination of the state of Russia's agrarian sector reveals that at present China and India are not among its leading partners in agricultural and food products trade. The Sino-Indian trade in agrarian products is also insignificant. Factors inhibiting such trade were competition from other countries selling the same type of product; high prices of imported agrarian products; restrictions on the import of such products based on sanitary requirements and quality standards; differences in the perceptions of the three countries regarding their own food security; and different traditions and structures of nutrition in the three countries. If such inhibitions are overcome trade could constitute an important form of cooperation between the three countries in the agrarian sector. Russia and China are also cooperating through the use of Chinese labour for farming on rented land, while Russia and India are interested in sharing of experience of applying microbiology technology for production of biological fertiliser. Coordination between the three countries with regard to the agrarian agenda of the WTO and in the markets of other countries are also possibilities.