India, GCC meet to study industrial cooperation

Thursday, 12 February 2004, 20:30 IST
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MUMBAI: Commerce and industry ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member nations will hold the first formal dialogue with India on industrial cooperation here from February 17-18. The ministerial delegations from the GCC nations, comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, would include representatives from the chambers of commerce and industry, and businessmen. To be inaugurated by Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley, "this will be the first ever major initiative towards economic dialogue between India and Gulf countries", Anand Mahindra, president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), told a press conference Thursday. The GCC-India Industrial Conference is being organised by the CII jointly with the GCC and the ministry of external affairs (MEA). To focus on 'GCC-India Industrial Cooperation: Opportunities and Challenges - 21st Century', the meet "will be the first ever formal economic dialogue between six countries of the Gulf and India on economic matters, after GCC invited India to be a dialogue partner in addition to the US and EU through the industrial conference", said Mahindra. Over 200 GCC business leaders would have an opportunity during the two-day meet to interact with Indian counterparts. "The GCC continues to look to India as a market with great potential and is actively persuading Indian business and industry to look at them for business," added Mahindra. Food processing, chemicals, electrical, mechanical and civil engineering, textiles and garments, information technology, telecommunication, education and training are some of the areas identified for cooperation and investment. The GCC region is India's second largest trading partner after the US with an annual trade turnover of about $6.8 billion. While the GCC exports to India have increased from $1.57 billion in the fiscal 2001-2002 to an estimated $1.89 billion, Indian exports to GCC countries during the same period have increased from $3.79 billion to $4.91 billion. The GCC region is the largest source of India's oil imports, while India's main exports to it are textiles, precious metals and food products.
Source: IANS
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