India for boosting trade ties with Belarus

New Delhi, Nov 18 (UNI) Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has called for stepping up cooperation to meet the India-Belarus bilateral trade target of 500 million dollars by 2010.

The target was envisaged during the visit of President A Lukashenka of the former Soviet Republic to India in April 2007.

During a meeting with Belarus Industry Minister A Rusetskey here last evening, Mr Kamal Nath said inspite of growth in the bilateral trade, it is far below the potential.

India's trade with Belarus in 2007-08 was 146.39 million dollars, an increase of 36 per cent over the previous year, an official statement said today.

India's exports to Belarus were worth 21.18 million dollars and imports totaled 125.21 million dollars.

Mr Kamal Nath listed sectors such as machine tools, metallurgy, radio electronics, drugs and pharmaceuticals, agro industrial machinery, heavy duty road construction, bearings, fertilisers, wood and wood products, tyres, mining equipments and food processing as areas of potential growth between the two nations.

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