Kamal Nath calls for doubling Indo-Greek trade by 2010

New Delhi, Nov 13 (UNI) Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has said, the 5th session of the Indo-Greek Joint Economic Committee held today would pave the way for enhancing bilateral trade relations between the two countries.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Nath called for working towards doubling the trade volume between the two countries inorder to reach and exceed one billion Euro by 2010.

Welcoming Mr Petros Doukas, Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece who called on him here Mr Nath observed that the bilateral trade between the two countries has shown a robust growth during the last two years. Senior officals from the Governemnt of Greece along with members of business community were also present at the meetng.

Mr Nath while inviting the Greek entrepreneur's to invest in the development of India's infrastructure sector over the next decade to build and develop various projects in energy, railways, highways and shipping, hoped that once the renegotiations of double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) and the implementaton of Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) are complete, it would encourage investments in both the countries.

He also informed the visiting members of the delegation about India being an established global service provider in the field of IT and software and expressed hope for Indo-Greek cooperation in this sector.

He said the Indian exports to Greek were 564.09 million dollars in the year 2005-06 and rose to 672.03 million dolars in the year 2006-07 achieving an increase of 20 per cent. The main exports to Greece from India include petroleum (crude and products), transport equipments, marine products and cotton yarn whle the main imports consists of metaliferous ores and metals scraps.

UNI