India, Greece keen to step up bilateral trade

New Delhi, Feb 9: India and Greece today expressed keenness tostep up bilateral trade, which stood at 620 million dollars in 2005-06.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and visiting GreekMinister of Finance and Economy George Alogoskoufi at a meeting herenoted that India's trade with Greece rose by an impressive 84 per centto reach 620.46 million dollars in 2005-06.

Of this, India's exports totalled 564.09 million dollars to Greece while imports from Greece were at 56.37 million dollars.

Both the Ministers were agreed that it was way below the potentialand underlined the desire to develop bilateral trade and economic tiesbetween the two countries as ancient civilisations and moderndemocracies.

On the proposed agreement on trade and investment between Indiaand the European Union (EU), which could open vast opportunities forbusiness on both sides, including Greece, Mr Kamal Nath said Indiawould like to see early commencement of negotiations for this agreementand sought Greece's support in the council of the European commissionfor ensuring an early mandate for the negotiations focussed on tradeand investment.

Noting that Indian exports to Greece had diversified beyondtraditional commodity items to include machinery, automobiles andengineering goods, Mr Kamal Nath said auto components, pharmaceuticals,health sector including medical tourism, agriculture (especially oliveoil) and food processing were the other potential areas of growth.

He invited Greek companies to participate in India'sinfrastructure programme while conveying that Indian companies couldalso participate in the infrastructure sector in Greece.

The need for easier visa procedures for Indian businessmen and professionals in Greece was also flagged.

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