INDIA SEEKS COOPERATION WITH LOMBARDY TO UPGRADE INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS
India has sought cooperation with
Lombardy in upgrading competitiveness of industrial clusters in
the country. During a meeting with Mr. Roberto Formigoni, President
of the Lombardy Region, Italy, here today, Shri Murasoli Maran,
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, suggested facilitating
linkages, to begin with, between five sectors in the Lombardy
industrial region and industrial clusters in India with a view
to enhancing the competitiveness of identified industrial sectors.
He further suggested that some of these linkages could include:
setting up and operating modern tool rooms to serve the units
in the clusters (on contract basis); training of shop floor and
supervisory personnel in latest technology and modern manufacturing
practices; to identify technology gaps in existing units as also
to identify machinery, equipment and processes required to bridge
these gaps and finally, to help set up performance benchmarks
in terms of quality and productivity. "The cluster model of
industrial growth of Lombardy, with its dynamism, flexibility
and global competitiveness is a model for industries for India",
Shri Maran said and expressed the hope that Mr. Formigoni’s visit
to India, which is being undertaken close on the heels of the
meeting of the India-Italy Joint Commission and the Destination
India events in Rome and Milan last February, would lead to substantial
enhancement of interaction between India and Lombardy in areas
of mutual interest.
The President of Lombardy said that
his visit was aimed at strengthening bilateral trade and economic
relations between India and Italy in general and with Lombardy
in particular. Referring to Lombardy’s experience in small and
medium enterprises and industrial clusters, Mr. Formigoni mentioned
that Lombardy with a population of 9 million has 800,000 small
companies, which meant one company for every seven Lombard. Agreeing
with Mr. Formigoni about the potential for greater trade, Shri
Maran said that bilateral trade between India and Italy had crossed
the US $ 2 billion mark during 2000-2001. Italy is India’s 4th
largest trade partner in the EU and one of its leading investors.
More than 800 foreign collaboration cases have been approved with
Italy and the top sector attracted the Italian investment included
transportation, food processing, metallurgy, electrical equipment,
computer software and textiles. Shri Dipak Chatterjee, Commerce
Secretary and Shri V. Govindarajan, Secretary (IPP), participated
in the discussions.
During the discussions, the Lombardy
delegation raised the issue of tariff and non-tariff barriers
being faced by Italian entrepreneurs. The Indian side explained
that the barriers had been dismantled to a great extent with the
phase out of QRs on imports last year. Shri Maran assured that
specific cases brought to his notice could be looked into and
resolved. It was also mentioned that India’s FDI policy had been
greatly liberalised and a mechanism for speedily resolving operational
problems of foreign investors was also in place in the form of
the Foreign Investment Implementation Authority (FIIA).
Lombardy is economically the most
advanced of Italy’s 20 regions with a per capita income of US
$ 24,000. It accounts for about 35% of Italy’s global trade with
a trade turnover of nearly $ 160 billion. The high-level Lombardy
delegation, which is also scheduled to visit Mumbai, Kolkata and
Bangalore, included Mr. Benedetto Amari, Ambassador, Mr. Massimo
Zanello, Regional Minister for SMIs, Mr. Alessandro Moneta, Regional
Minister for Territory and Urban Development, Mr. Maurizio Bernardo,
Regional Minister for Water Resources and Public Development Services,
Mr. Rafaele Cattaneo, Vice Secretary General of Lombardy Region,
Mrs. Antonella Prete, International Relations, Mr. Roberto Ronza,
Adviser to President Formigoni and Mr. Marco Conticelli, Counsellor,
Economic, besides a large number of representatives of the Lombardy
trade and industry as well as the media.
