Joint Press Conference with PM of Italy

16 Feb '07

3 min read

There is good ongoing economic cooperation between India and Italy, which has been steadily increasing. There are significant complementarities between our two economies. We hope to synergise Italian strengths in design and technology with India's manufacturing competencies and human resource skills. We also look forward to strengthening small and medium enterprise (SME) linkages.

The large number of CEOs of leading Italian companies, accompanying Prime Minister Prodi on this visit, is another indicator of the importance that both India and Italy attach to the economic aspects of our relationship.

Indian companies are setting up operations in Italy in sectors such as IT, electronics, engineering, pharmaceuticals and textiles. Indian investment in Italy is increasing. Italian companies have invested in India in key sectors such as textiles, machinery, infrastructure and chemicals. We welcome the initiative by the private sector of both countries in launching an Indo-Italian CEO Forum.

Italy is an active member of the European Union, which is India's largest trading partner. India and the EU had agreed to launch negotiations for a broad-based India-EU Trade & Investment Agreement at the last Summit in Helsinki. We count on Italy's support in its successful conclusion.

We look forward to strengthening our close and mutually beneficial partnership with Italy bilaterally as well as in the framework of the EU. We are confident that this visit of Prime Minister Prodi will provide substantial impetus to our partnership.

Press Information Bureau Government of India

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