Italy sets up 300 million Euro 'Go India' Fund for SMEs

Kolkata,Feb 12(UNI) The Department of Foreign Trade and a conglomerate of seven major banks in Italy have jointly set up an exclusive 'Go India' fund of 300 million Euros for the promotion of SME sector in both the countries.

Italian minister of International Trade Emma Bonino said here today that the present two way trade which presently stood at 4.6 billion Euros was also poised to grow to ten billion Euros during the next three years following increased business activities between the two friendly nations. It would also open a new vista in bilateral relations among the two, she added.

Ms Bonino arrived here last night as the deputy leader of 417 member strong Italian SME business delegation to the city.

Speaking to newsmen after inaugurating a two-day Indo-Italian synergy programme, she said after the recent visit of Indian Commerce minister Kamal Nath to Italy, her government had identified eight major areas for pushing forward the bilateral trade to ten billion Euros.

The areas which had been identifeid for the promotion of trade volume are film making, engineering, traditional crafts, IT, bio-technology, infrastructure and logistics, chemicals and Pharmaceuticals and retail businesses.

She said the Italian Small Industry confederation also planned to set up a separate fund for the development of infrastructure and logistics in India. A number of financial institutions had already shown interest to have stakes in the formation of the fund which would be in line with the one already announced by Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh, she said.

Regarding the 'Go India' fund of Euro 300 million, Ms Bonino said X X X Eds here pick up from para five, line one of CC1 (Business-Italy- India bilateral).

UNI