New Delhi: The Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles Shri Anand Sharma has expressed confidence that India and Italy will reach the target of Euro 15 bn.
Sharma said that the micro, small and medium enterprises sector is the backbone of Indian economy, contributing 8% of our gross domestic product, 45% of manufactured output and 40% of our exports. “Earlier, the SME sector in India used to be protected and foreign investment was restricted in this sector, but recently we have liberalised this sector to enable its modernisation and now the SME sector is open to foreign investment just like any other sector. We view SMEs as incubators of technology and innovation and would encourage cooperative partnerships to develop between Indian and Italian SMEs” he added.
Speaking at Ministerial Forum: ‘Indo-Italian Cooperation: Addressing Challenges, Strengthening Ties’, here today, Shri Sharma emphasized that Trade between our countries last year stood at US$ 8.50 billion and the data till August 2011 “shows an impressive growth that reflects optimism, yet doesn’t reflect our true potential which is far greater.” Mr. Paolo Romani, Minister for Economic Development, Italy also addressed the gathering.
Shri Sharma said that the Indian design industry is growing between 23 and 25 per cent every year, and the economic rise of India has created a strong consumption demand for various kinds of clothing, textiles, home furnishings, leather products, including footwear. In particular, there is a need for designers in garment and leather – two areas where Italy is a global leader. "It is a step in this direction that has prompted India and Italy to organise a leather fair in Milan in 2012," he said. In the field of industrial design, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and Milan Polytechnic Consortium have signed an MoU for building synergies in design sensitisation and capacity building in May 2011 after Shri Sharma’s visit to Milan.
FICCI and Confindustria, the apex business chamber of Italy, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at listing out the areas and the methodology for cooperation by establishing the India-Italy Business Forum.
The MoU was signed by Mr. Harsh C Mariwala, President, FICCI and Mr. Paolo Zegna, Vice President, Confindustria, in the presence of Mr. Anand Sharma, India’s Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles and Mr. Paolo Romani, Italian Minister for Economic Development.
The signing of the MoU assumes significance as India and Italy have set a bilateral trade target of US$ 15 billion to be achieved by 2015. Two-way trade in 2010-11 was US$ 8.8 billion.
The MoU envisages that the India-Italy Business Forum will foster and further develop cooperation between the two countries in sectors such as automotive, infrastructure, agro-food and agro-industry, textile and leather, pharmaceuticals, design, tourism, manufacturing, ICT and higher education. It will also actively seek to promote business interactions between SMEs of both countries.
Earlier, Minister Sharma and Minister Romani spoke of the inherent strengths of the economies of India and Italy and how India’s development priorities could be addressed by Italian small and medium enterprises. Minister Sharma urged FICCI and Confindustria to remember that bilateral and B2B agreements would be meaningful only when they get implemented on the ground. |