April 08, 2002

‘17B’

    The removal of quantitative barriers and reduction in import duties in most of the countries in Eurasia and India have paved the way for tremendous scope for increasing Indo-Eurasian bilateral trade. Addressing the Plenary of Eurasia Summit at Almaty in Kazakhstan today, the Minister of State for Small Scale Industries, Smt. Vasundhara Raje said that the economies are opening up and since Eurasia has 75% of the global energy resources and India being the 5^th largest energy consumer in the world, there is a huge possibility for the silk route being replaced by the oil and gas pipelines. Emphasising the need for people to people contacts and at government and business level, Smt. Raje said that democracy, secularism and liberal societies are broad advantages that both Eurasia and India share.

    The Minister stated that small and medium businesses are being fast recognized by the developing and developed nations as the basis for strong and equitable national economies. India has a unique development experience in this sector and there is a great role for this sector in increasing mutual cooperation between the two regions. She further said that food processing is another possible area of cooperation. The Indian food industry is mature and worth 70 billion US dollars. There is immense potential for value addition in this sector in the core countries of Eurasia. The Minister also drew the attention towards Indian Information Technology sector in which India can offer its expertise. She said the Indian IT sector is growing at an annual rate of more than 40% and is poised to generate revenues of 17 billion US dollars by 2008.

    The Minister is on an official visit to Kazakhstan to attend opening plenary of Eurasia Summit on the main outcome of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting on a dialogue on the significance and the future of Eurasia.