New Delhi: The true potentials of India-Europe 29 bilateral trade flows are vastly under-explored. Stating this in his keynote address in the inaugural session of the 2-day 3rd India – Europe 29 Business Forum being organised in New Delhi, Gen (Dr) V K Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, Government of India, urged the Forum to come up with tangible deliverables with definitive timelines that can go into building the roadmap for intensive India-E29 economic partnerships.
Gen. Singh invited companies and investors in the E29 countries to explore the investment opportunities in India’s manufacturing sector to make in India and cater to global markets. He also cited areas like infrastructure development, clean and renewable energy, smart cities among others where E29 investors will find compelling business opportunities.
The Minister released the FICCI Knowledge Report titled ‘India- Europe 29: Partnering for Transforming Economic Relations” at the session. Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry, Tourism, Cyprus, said in his address that Indian companies will find attractive investment and business opportunities in Cyprus, especially as the country has recorded faster GDP growth and key sectors like oil and gas offer significant investment opportunities. Cyprus is the Partner Country of this edition of IE29BF.
Soren Pind, Minister for Higher Education and Science, Denmark, said in his address that building skills is central to building a better world. He said that Denmark with its experience of dovetailing higher education with the dynamic needs of the labour market can offer useful knowledge and expertise to India in the realm of skills development.
He also referred to the role of Danish Innovation Centre in India that is building bridges between Denmark and India in areas like innovation and education.Nordic Region is the Partner Region of this edition of the Forum. Earlier,Harshavardhan Neotia, President, FICCI in his welcome address said that there is immense scope for India- Europe 29 bilateral partnerships in areas like SME development, manufacturing, new and renewable energy, etc.
Rakesh Bakshi, IE29BF Forum Convenor and CMD, RRB Energy, Ltd, said in his concluding remarks that the deliberations at the Forum should lead to sector-specific outcomes. He urged businesses from the E29 countries to undertake good homework in identifying business partners in India and adopt a calibrated approach in this regard.
He added that as both India and the E29 economies are inn transition, there are opportunities to leverage one another’s complementary strengths to build strong partnerships.At this session, the dignitaries were also awarded Green Certificates that endorsed planting of trees in the Sunderbans in India.
Image Courtesy: economictimes
