Portugal eyes increased trade with India

New Delhi, Jan 12 (UNI) Commending the economic performance of India, Portugal today urged the Indian and Portuguese entrepreneurs to increase the bilateral trade between the two countries.

''India has, over the past three years, achieved an average growth rate of more than eight per cent...driven by the services sector and largely associated with an increasing economic openness and structural reforms.

''Relations between Portugal and India in the economic field has remained far below its full potential. We must mobilise the will of our political, economic, cultural and scientific communities to a greater extent, for otherwise we shall find it hard to build up this relationship with a future that I consider mutually beneficial,'' Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva said at the closing session of the India-Portugal Business Forum here.

Mr Silva, along with a business delegation, is on a week-long official visit to India.

Portugal accounts for 260.89 million dollars worth of India's exports (23.31 per cent of exports to all the countries) while the imports figure stands at 30.25 million dollars (a miniscule 0.02 per cent of the total imports).

Portugal eyes increased bilateral relations with India in the fields of petrochemicals, furniture and tourism with ''oil being the biggest areas to be exploited,'' Portuguese Minsiter of Economy and Innovation Manuel Pinho said.

India registered a GDP growth rate of 9.2 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal.

During the session, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma told the Portuguese delegation, ''Our new policies are enabling public-private partnership in the modernisation of our roads system, railways, ports, airports, power and the entire urban infrastructure. The country can absorb about 350 million dollars in infrastructure.'' Over the past two years, the Indian manufacturing sector achieved growth rate of 9-10 per cent and the government aims to raise this to 12 per cent in order to emerge as a manufacturing base of the world.

Mr Anand said the information technology, biotechnology, agribusiness and food processing, tourism, textiles, chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors provide opportunities for fruitful cooperation between the two countries.

He expressed hope that the India-EU Summit, to be held in July this year in India, would have good progress towards the conclusion of India-EU Trade and Investment Agreement which was negotiated at the last India-EU Summit at Helsinki.

In a related development, the Portuguese Industrial Association and Entrepreneurial Confederation (AIPCE) signed an agreement with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to enhance the growth and existing relationship between both the countries.

The AIPCE is one of the premier industrial representative bodies in Portugal since 1989.

The MoU seeks to establish until the end of the first semester 2007, a private Economic Council, in order to bring together the business of the two countries.

Portugal is to assume the Presidency of the EU in July this year.

UNI