Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase congratulated India towards the progress it is making towards its full potential for increasing the prosperity and wellbeing of its people.
In a message of goodwill to the Government and people of India for the celebrations of their 60th anniversary of Independence, Qarase stated both countries have had very close historical and cultural bonds.
According to him more than 38 percent of the country's population is of Indian origin, being the decendents of emigrants who came to work in Fiji's sugar industry, over 126 years ago and chose to settle down and made huge contributions.
All these years, several agreements and memorandum of understanding were signed to promote co-operation in areas of trade, information and communication technology (ICT), health and medicine and tourism with other agreements covering water resource management and coconut industry development.
Qarase highlighted that there was good potential for trade and investment in clothing, textile and footwear and black pearls, gems and jewelry, agro-industries, audio-visual and film production and sugar industry.