To set up a $2-billion consortium the State Bank of India and the $10-billion Russian sovereign wealth fund, RDIF, on December 24 signed a memorandum of understanding. The consortium's aim is to promote direct investment.    Both sides will jointly invest up to $2 billion to promote trade and economic co-operation projects, the Russian fund said in a statement. The agreement, under which the two sides would invest up to $1 billion each. RDIF said the two firms will work together to facilitate access to long-term capital in Russia and India and promote mutual investments between the two countries.    

The firms will invest in infrastructure development and facilities to extract and process natural resources,    

The pact was among the 10 deals, including defence, that were signed at the 13th annual India-Russia summit in Delhi.    

In a joint statement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin reviewed the progress made in key areas of co-operation including energy, trade, high technology and military-technical co-operation and noted that they shared common views on all the important issues of regional and international co-operation.    

The Prime Minister and Putin also expressed satisfaction at the substantial rise in bilateral trade and agreed to enhance efforts to achieve the target of $20 billion by 2015. India also welcomed Russia’s recent accession to the World Trade Organisation. Both leaders called for the Russia-India Chief Executive Officers Council’s meeting at the earliest.