India's acquisition of Corus is tip of iceberg: Kamal Nath

New Delhi, Feb 12 (UNI) Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today said India has emerged as an investor country and the latest acquisition of Anglo-Dutch venture Corus by the Tata group was merely "the tip of the iceberg".

Speaking at the launch of a website to foster greater cooperation and investment between the business communities of India and Russia, he said so far the governments of the two countries had interacted and the website provided the first opportunity to put the business communities of the two countries together.

He along with Mr German Gref, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, launched the website at the first meeting of the India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment.

He reminded the Russian businessnen that 70 per cent of the investments made in India were profitable while 14 per cent were breaking even -- this was a record achievement.

Describing the website as a "new chapter in enhancing India-Russian economic relations", he said it would create a new architecture as it was necessary for both business communities to come together.

Speakers also said bilateral trade which stood at 7 billion dollars this fiscal should be nearly doubled by 2010. However, the Russian side cited lack of information and language barriers as major impediments in investing in India.

The other speakers were Dr Ajay Dua, Secretary (Industrial Policy and Promotion), Commerce Secretary G K Pillai, Confederation of Indian Industry President B Seshayee, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry H Khorakiwala and Mr V A Fadeev, co-Chair, Russia-India Business Council.

The two-day meeting of the Forum will conclude tomorrow evening with the signing of a protocol on bilateral cooperation in several spheres of mutual interest.

The Forum was set up through a joint communique here on March 16, 2006 to primarliy formulate on a regular basis recommendations in the sphere of trade and investment and to cover the multifarious aspects of India-Russia bilateral trade and investment relations including the possibility of setting up of comprehensive websites in English and Russian through an apex chamber of trade and commerce from the Indian side, and the Russian-Indian Business Council from the Russian side.

UNI