|
Back
INDIA AIMS AT $ 10 BILLION TRADE WITH GERMANY BY NEXT YEAR
KAMAL NATH ADDRESSES INDO-GERMAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Date : 29 Sep 2004
Location : New Delhi
ndia is aiming at the bilateral trade with Germany to cross US $ 10 billion by next year. Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, indicated this while addressing the 48th Annual General Meeting of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce in Mumbai today. The bilateral trade presently stands at $ 5.5 billion, of which India’s exports are $ 2.5 billion and imports of $ 3 billion. Within the EU, Germany is India’s largest trading partner, along with the UK and Belgium. Shri Kamal Nath said that in order to achieve a quantum jump in the economic cooperation between the two countries the latent potentialities of the SMEs would have to be tapped.
Shri Kamal Nath highlighted the fact that the German firms were known for their technical and engineering excellence and added: "if this is combined with German investment, I see tremendous scope for cooperation in infrastructure: roads, ports and energy. This provides a win-win situation: the very investment increases trade and the results of that investment also increases trade!" The Minister pointed out to the knowledge economy, including information technology, bio-technology and the entertainment industry as the important sector in the economic strategies of both the countries and stressed the need to fully exploit the synergies in these areas.
The Minister indicated that Germany has emerged as the sixth largest foreign investor in India with approvals of $ 2.5 billion and an actual inflow of over a billion dollars. "An exclusive German window is functioning in the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion for focussed enhancement of industrial cooperation with Germany. We need to effectively utilise all such instruments towards achieving our objective", the Minister said. In terms of total number of collaborations approved, Germany is second only to the USA.
**********
SB/PM/MRS
|
Archives
