The Hindu Business Line : India, Italy set trade target of 5 billion euros in two years

INDIA and Italy have set a bilateral trade target of five billion euros to be achieved within two years. This was indicated by the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, at a meeting of the India-Italy Business Forum.

The annual two-way trade between India and Italy currently stood at about three billion euros. Even as the volume of trade between the two countries was growing at 10 per cent, Mr Kamal Nath held that this was way below the potential.

With the enabling environment in India's foreign trade, Mr Kamal Nath expressed confidence that the trade and industry would be able to achieve the target.

Underlining the tremendous opportunities for investment in India, Mr Kamal Nath pointed to large gaps in physical infrastructure and energy generation capacities.

He held that the country was looking at investments to the tune of $150 billion to fill these gaps over a short period of time.

Italian investments could target these areas as also opportunities in other areas, Mr Nath said.

Besides the President of Italy, Mr Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the Italian Minister for Production Activities, Mr Antonio Marzano, along with the large Italian business delegation attended the India-Italy Business Forum.

Members of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) also attended the meeting.

MoU for agro-industrial park

ITALIAN consortium, Sistema Italia Export (CSIE), and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of a world-class agro-industrial park to be called "Sistema Italia FICCI Hyper Food City - India".

Once established, this park would be the focal point for the entry of Italian food processing industries in joint ventures with Indian partners.

The MoU to undertake the feasibility study to determine the park's location was signed by Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary-General of FICCI, together with Dr Giuseppe Bartolucci, President of CSIE.

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