Bangalore: Pitching for stepping up Indo-Russian IT cooperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin today (Dec 4, 2004) said there was great potential for the two nations to jointly develop and market software in third countries.

Calling for diversification in trade relations, he said, both India and Russia could jointly market new hi-tech projects as part of the growing cooperation in the IT sector.

The Indo-Russian roundtable on IT held in Bangalore today would help in deepening the cooperation in the information technology sector, he said at an interactive business meeting organised jointly by the Confederation of the Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in Bangalore tonight.

Russia's software exports is about $ 500 million compared to India's $ 12.5 billion and Moscow has invited Indian IT service providers to leverage the engineering talent in Russia for building software for the world.

Observing that "we cannot be satisfied with the present volume of trade" between India and Russia, which was $ 2 billion, Putin said the potential was "tremendous" but it had not been tapped in full measure.

He also stressed on the need for both the nations to set "broader objectives" in spheres, including IT, telecom, electronics and pharmaceuticals, among others.