The Hindu Business Line : EEPC to open second centre in Johannesburg

Kolkata, Oct. 23 In a bid to give a renewed thrust to the ‘Focus Africa’ initiative of the Government of India, the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) is organising an Indo-SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) summit in Johannesburg, where partnership agreements are expected to be signed between EEPC and leading industry bodies of South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

These include the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Johannesburg, Namibian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mozambique Chamber of Commerce, Micro, small to Medium Enterprises, Zimbabwe, SMEs Compete, Namibia and the Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative.

Talking to Business Line, Mr Rakesh Shah, Chairman of the council, said the Indo-SADC partnership agreement was expected to formalise various methods of exchange of business and commercial information benefiting the engineering community of both the regions.

Mr Shah said Dr Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Industry, Government of India, will inaugurate the mega INDEE-Johannesburg industrial exhibition at Johannesburg, South Africa, coinciding with Manufacturing Technologies International (MTI) 2007. He informed that India was the partner country of MTI 2007, a focused exhibition which provided an opportunity to source industrial products.

Some 175 Indian companies representing a whole range of engineering industries are expected to participate at the exhibition, and the list includes names such as Tata Motors, Kirloskar Brothers, Mahindra & Mahindra, Batliboi International, Escorts, Escorts Construction Equipment, Tata Autocomp Systems, Ashok Leyland, Mecon etc.

Mr Shah said the Minister will also formally inaugurate the Indian Engineering Centre (IEC) at Johannesburg, a showroom-cum-warehousing facility of the council, providing customised services to Indian companies intending to showcase their products, catalogues in Johannesburg. The IEC, Johannesburg is the council’s second such facility after the one in Chicago, US.

Impressive growth

Mr Shah disclosed that total trade between India and South Africa has grown significantly since 2001, even though India has remained a net importer. “However, in the engineering sector, India’s exports to South Africa have been impressive, having grown by 45.18 per cent during 2006-07 to $ 736.58 million, compared to with $ 507.33 million. in 2005-06.”

According to him, growth areas for Indian exports to South Africa were vehicle and vehicle components, transport equipment, castings, forgings, hand tools, mining equipment and attachments, agricultural implements and two-wheelers. Commenting on the objective of the INDEE exhibition, he said it was primarily aimed at overseas buyers, informing them about transformation of the Indian engineering industry from a supplier of low value, labour intensive products to technologically advanced items comparable with those in developed countries.

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