India seeks Australian market for agri products

New Delhi, Jan 18 (UNI) India has sought access to Australian market for export of agricultural, dairy and poultry products.

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, during a meeting with Australia Trade Minister Simon Crean here today, urged him to facilitate it through appropriate market access initiatives and by removing non-tariff barriers.

Mr Nath said India is keen on exporting mangoes to Australia from April.

United States had lifted ban on export of Indian manggoes last year and India has been pressing Australia to do so since.

The Minister also invited Australian investments, saying India is growing and its stable investment climate beckoned huge opportunities for Australian companies, particularly in energy and infrastructure sectors.

Australia's investments in India are worth 1.92 billion dollars since 1991, while Indian investments in Australia are well over one billion dollars, mostly in the IT sector.

Bilateral trade between the two countries was over USD 7.93 billion dollars in 2006-07, while it was nearly five billion dollars in first six months of current fiscal, recording a growth of 29.41 per cent over the comparable period of the previous fiscal.

UNI SAA SR KP2118