"Current Topics of the Russian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission’s Work"

In the previous article, we described the role of the Russian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission in the economic cooperation between the two countries, and now we will examine some specific issues and mechanisms of this institution's work.

Starting with the 23rd plenary session held on September 14, 2018, (Declaration on Strategic Partnership between the Russian Federation and the Republic of India: signed on October 4, 2000. – Text: electronic // Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. – URL: www.mid.ru/... (accessed: 25.03.2025).) in the Russian capital, a steady trend has been observed

toward the institutionalization of cyclicality, both in full-scale meetings of the Intergovernmental Commission and in regular bilateral meetings of the co-chairs. The spatiotemporal alternation of venues (Moscow — New Delhi — videoconference format), implemented based on the principles of functional parity, confirms the equality of the parties in the architecture of bilateral interaction, emphasizing the symmetrical nature of the political-organizational balance within this mechanism.

The formalized periodicity of high-level meetings, including sessions held on November 8, 2022 The Russian House in New Delhi hosted the conference "India-Russia: International Seminar of Young Researchers" / Text: electronic // Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. – URL: mid.ru/.../ (accessed: 25.03.2025)., March 6, 2023

(in a remote format) Economic relations with foreign countries (excluding CIS) on a bilateral basis / Text: electronic // Government of the Russian Federation. – 2025. – URL: government.ru/... (accessed: 25.03.2025), and December 26, 2023 Protocol to the Agreement between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Republic of India on Cooperation in the Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant in India dated November 20, 1988, and the Supplement thereto dated June 21, 1998, signed on December 26, 2023 (temporarily applied by the Russian Federation as of December 27, 2023). – Text: electronic // Official Publication of Legal Acts. – URL: publication.pravo.gov.ru/... (accessed: 25.03.2025), indicates

the consolidation of a stable management cycle, which includes functions for monitoring the implementation of agreements reached, as well as mechanisms for modifying the agenda due to current macroeconomic and geo-economic transformations. In this context, the 24th (April 2023) and 25th (November 2024) sessions not only recorded a quantitative and qualitative expansion of the interaction spectrum but also marked the transgression of the IGC

from a traditionally consultative instrument to a program-targeted module focused on the managed implementation of multilevel bilateral initiatives.

As of the first half of 2025, the institutional configuration of the Commission ensures the functioning of 18 working groups and 9 subgroups Joint Statement following the XXI Russian-Indian Summit "Russia – India: Partnership for Peace, Progress, and Prosperity": published on December 6, 2021. – Text: electronic // Kremlin. – URL: special.kremlin.ru/... (accessed: 25.03.2025), each of which has a high degree of institutional autonomy while maintaining functional stratification within the integrative management model. The deregulation of the formation process of these working structures, carried out primarily through the Commission's protocol decisions, ensures procedural efficiency and normative elasticity, allowing flexible adaptation of structural units to the dynamically changing priorities of the bilateral agenda.

The functional-thematic diversification of the working groups covers key segments of national and supranational economic development—from traditional industrial and energy issues to modern forms of digitalization, humanitarian interaction, logistical synergy, and financial-banking coordination. Such comprehensive stratification facilitates deep thematic penetration into subject areas, institutionalized problem-solving, and methodological formalization of regulatory legal acts, memoranda

and agreements, which are then incorporated into the IGC meeting agendas. Internal procedural rules, including agenda approval and minute-keeping, solidify the status of these structures as full-fledged sub-institutional entities within the Commission, possessing both coordination and initiative-expert functions.

In accordance with the administrative-legal directive of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 22, 2023, No. MD-P2-6655, the functions of systemic coordinator for the implementation of decisions adopted

during the 24th IGC meeting were centralized under the jurisdictional authority of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, which indicates

the consolidation of the "anchor agency" concept as an institution for targeted management of interstate processes. This approach reflects the general trend toward centralizing administrative control and institutionalizing responsible management entities within the framework of Russia's foreign economic policy.

Twenty-nine entities were involved in implementing the designated decisions—including federal executive bodies and institutional units of public-private interaction, such as the Russian Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Agriculture, the Central Bank of Russia, State Corporations Rosatom and Roscosmos, as well as business associations and corporate participants in foreign economic activity (JSC "REC," the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ALROSA, Russian Railways, Avtodor State Company, and the Business Council for Cooperation with India). These structures were delegated the execution of 77 management directives, requiring intensified interagency coordination and institutional densification of the mechanism for implementing foreign economic decisions within a unified strategic framework Denis Manturov chaired the 25th meeting of the Russian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission / Text: electronic // Government of Russia. – 2024. – URL: government.ru/... (accessed: 20.03.2025).

This architecture of institutional interconnectedness demonstrates the high level of IGC incorporation into the national paradigm of strategic planning and, thereby, conveys its status as a key linking element between the level of interstate political articulation and the administrative concretization of the foreign economic development vector.

The Commission operates on the basis of a contractual decision-making model, representing a universally accepted principle of international intergovernmental interaction, which in turn ensures the necessary level of political legitimacy, institutional stability, and legal reproducibility. The regularity of meetings, institutional fixation of agreements reached, and the strategic orientation of protocol decisions contribute to the formation of cumulative political-legal capital within the bilateral partnership, ensuring continuity and stability of the institutional course.

One of the characteristic features of the IGC's structural design is the possibility of forming ad hoc working bodies, which ensures high adaptability to changing external

and internal conditions. In the context of increasing geo-economic turbulence, instability of the global normative order, and escalating sanctions pressure, such organizational flexibility becomes a cornerstone of resilience, enhancing the IGC's ability to respond promptly to international challenges.

Nevertheless, despite the relative maturity of the institutional model, the Commission's activities retain a number of limitations requiring strategic consideration and managerial transformation. These include:

• irregular expert interaction during intersessional periods;
• excessive regulatory-bureaucratic burden on the initiative approval process;
• a deficit in the digital transformation of control and monitoring procedures;
• limited variability in mechanisms for evaluating the effectiveness of implemented decisions.

As tools for institutional strengthening of the IGC, it is advisable to consider the development of specialized digital interaction platforms, expanding the autonomy of working bodies within the mandate model, and more active integration of academic community representatives, private sector actors, and non-governmental stakeholders into the decision-making process. Expanding the institutional landscape by involving quasi-state and multi-actor structures could catalyze further institutional evolution of the Commission and enhance its adaptive potential in a multipolar and highly competitive geopolitical reality.

Thus, the Russian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical, and Cultural Cooperation represents a multilevel, functionally stratified, and politically relevant institution, organically integrated into the architecture of strategic interaction between the two states. The IGC performs a transmission function in the "political decision — administrative implementation" chain, serves as a channel for the institutional articulation of priorities, and provides a platform for developing coordinated responses to global challenges.