Indian president Ram Nath Kovind encourages to develop bilateral trabe over 1 billion annually
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Greece and India can boost bilateral trade to more than 1.0 billion euros next year, President of India Ram Nath Kovind said on Tuesday.
Addressing a Greece-India Business Forum organised by the Indian embassy in Greece in cooperation with Enterprise Greece, the President of India said that Indian businessmen can find the right partners in Greece in the sector of tourism, as India expects to have big growth by 2022 and added that startup companies from India and Greece could seek partnership opportunities in agricultural production, farm product processing, shipping, tourism, pharmaceuticals, energy, entertainment, metals, production and selling of food/beverage, clothing and footwear. He added that during his meeting with President of the Republic Prokopios Pavlopoulos they talked about the vast possibilities for further improving bilateral relations, at least in the technological and industrial sectors.
Yiannis Dragasakis, vice-president of the government and Economy Minister, addressing the forum said that the government with its policy of peace and friendship wants to make not only Greece but also the wider region a global investment destination, an area of peace, stability and equal partnership. “We work not only for our progress, but also for the progress of other peoples in our region. A precondition for common and mutually beneficial progress is Balkan joint development, so if you invest in Greece, you invest in the Balkans,” he noted.
Dragasakis said that Greece’s cultural bonds with India are historical, their political relations impeccable, economic prospects promising and the outlook for economic cooperation is significant and expanding as Greece is a natural gateway towards Europe, an international transit center, an energy hub, a tourist destination, a shipping power and has a high-quality workforce. He underlined that India will be the honoured country in the Thessaloniki International Fair 2019.
Deputy Economy Minister Stergios Pitsiorlas said the visit of the President of the Indian Republic to Greece is a landmark in bilateral relations and noted that although the two countries have a long tradition of friendship and good relations, economic relations remained low, with bilateral trade at 457 million euros in 2017. He noted that Greece was organising a business trip to India in early autumn to continue a common seeking of opportunties.
Constantinos Michalos, president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry and of the Central Union of Chambers, said that India is the most rapidly developing country in the world, with an annual growth rate of 7.0 pct in the last years, the seventh largest economy in the world (in absolute numbers) and has the prospect of becoming the third largest ecnomy in the next decade. Greek exports to India totaled 62.5 million euros in 2016, mostly of cotton, marble and granite, and aluminium, while imports from India totaled 298 million euros, mostly of machinery, fish, vehicles, organic chemical products, seeds and fruit. He noted that tourism is steadily growing as the Indian public is showing increasing interest in Greece.
Source: AMNA