Kamal Nath to lead Indian mission to Amsterdam

New Delhi, Aug 25 (UNI) Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath will lead Indian mission to the two-day Netherlands-India Business Meet(NIBM) in Amsterdam on November 20-21 to explore new models for boosting business relations between the two nations, a senior government official said today.

Addressing the first road show here to promote NIBM 2008, Mr Ajay Shankar, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy&Promotion (DIPP) said; ''The Indian mission, led by Mr Kamal Nath, Commerce and Industry Minister, will participate in the NIBM''.

He singled out food processing sector and SMEs as the two key areas that will engage the attention of Indian delegation at the business meet.

''On our part, we will ensure genuine handholding for the SMEs to cut down their transaction costs in terms of acquisition of land and buildings,'' the Secretary said.

Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will ensure that constructive and fruitful business to business meetings take place between and prospective Indian and Dutch business partners, he added.

NIBM 2008 will explore new models for Netherlands-India collaboration and examine how the innovative strength of both countries can be sustained through mutually beneficial collaboration in diverse areas.

IT, agro-industry, logistics and infrastructure, water management, life sciences and health, automotive and design industry have been identified as focus sectors for collaboration.

Ficci secretary general Amit Mitra said; "Indo-Dutch bilateral relations are on an upward path. The Netherlands is among the top 10 trading partners of India and holds 4th position in terms of FDI inflows into India. Our trade has shown a 100 per cent growth between 2000-06.

The second largest Indian diaspora is in the Netherlands, several Dutch MNCs such as Phillips, Shell and Unilever are household words in India. The business meet will thus happen in a power packed environment and comes at a time when optimism for taking the Indo-Dutch relations to a higher trajectory is at a new high,'' he added.

NIBM road shows are also being organised in Kolkata (August 26), Chennai (Aug 27), Hyderabad (Aug 28), and Mumbai (Aug 29), FICCI said.

NIBM 2008 is being hosted jointly by the Netherlands India Chamber of Industry &Trade (NICCT), The Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands, Confederation of Netherlands Industry&Employers (VNO-NCW) on the Dutch side and FICCI.

UNI SAA AK NS2011