INDIA, ROMANIA PLAN BIG THRUST
TO BILATERAL TRADE & INVESTMENT RELATIONS
INDIA-ROMANIA
JOINT COMMITTEE & JOINT BUSINESS COUNCIL MEETINGS HELD
India and Romania
have agreed to give major thrust to strengthening of bilateral
trade and investment relations, which at present is way below
the potential that exists between the two countries. Not only
is there great scope for increasing trade in traditional items
such as drugs & pharmaceuticals, iron & steel, heavy engineering,
chemicals and textiles, but also there is tremendous scope to
diversify the trade basket to include non-traditional and niche
products keeping in mind the skills acquired by two countries.
This was underlined by Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Commerce
& Industry and Law & Justice and Mr. Dan Ioan Popescu,
Minister of Economy & Commerce, Government of Romania, who
led their respective delegations at the joint meetings of the
16th session of India-Romania Joint Committee and 9th
session of India-Romania Joint Business Council, organised by
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI),
here today.
Mr. Popescu stressed
his country’s desire to strengthen cooperation with India in various
fields including IT and invited Indian companies to invest in
Romania as a manufacturing base for exports to East Europe. Shri
Jaitley highlighted the new avenues in which two countries could
work together for mutual benefit including new frontier areas
of IT, biotechnology and bio-informatics besides indicating opportunities
that existed in India in sectors as diverse as tourism, infrastructure,
petrochemicals, aviation, mining and oil exploration. He also
pointed to the investment opportunities in the Special Economic
Zones (SEZ). Both sides noted with satisfaction the MoU signed
between FICCI and the Romania Chamber of Commerce & Industry
(Prahova County) for cooperation in oil, gas and other areas of
mutual interest.
"Romania is
an important trade partner of India. India’s exports to Romania
grew by 21.61% in 2002 compared to 2001. Similarly, Romania’s
exports to India increased during 2001, registering a 5.43% gain.
The Government of India has approved seven foreign collaboration
cases for Romania during the period 19991-2003 (June). Actual
inflow from Romania for the period 1991-2003 (June) has been US
$ 0.02 million which is 3.38% of the Foreign Direct Investment
approved by the Government of India for Romania", Shri Jaitley
said.
Later Shri Jaitley
and Mr. Popescu signed the Protocols of the Joint Committee and
Joint Business Council meetings detailing future plans for strengthening
bilateral trade and economic cooperation. An additional Protocol
was also signed between National Centre for Trade Information
(NCTI) of India and Romanian Foreign Trade Centre (RFTC) of Romania
for improving the level of exchange of trade information. Both
sides agreed to encourage cooperation in setting up of joint ventures,
training and consultancy services in the telecommunications sector.
It was also agreed to promote mutual understanding and exchanges
to enhance mutual cooperation for the development of the trade
remedy systems (anti-dumping and countervailing duty) of the two
countries.
Mr. Popescu indicated
that foreign trade has emerged as one of the most dynamic sectors
of Romania, recording an annual growth rate of 30% and emphasised
his country’s interest in strengthening trade ties with Asian
countries in general and India in particular. Both the Joint Committee
and Joint Business Council meetings were attended by Shri S. N.
Menon, Special Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry,
Mr. Petru Petra, Ambassador of the Republic of Romania in India,
Shri Y. K. Modi, President Elect, FICCI and Shri D. M. Kapadia,
Chairman, Indo-Romania JBC along with several representatives
of trade & industry from both the countries.
The total trade between
the two countries rose to US $ 72.72 million during 2002-03 from
US $ 59.80 million in 2001-02. The major items of exports from
India include drugs, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, machinery
& instruments, manufactures of metals, cotton yarn, fabrics,
plastic & linoleum products and electronic goods. The major
items of imports from Romania include iron & steel, organic
chemicals, machinery except electric & electronic, metalifers
ores & metal scrap etc.
