Kamal Nath Invites Turkish Companies to invest in Indian Infrastructure Sector

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry "Shri Kamal Nath" has invited the Turkish Companies to explore the Indian markets and make investments, especially in the infrastructure sector as it has the promise of sustained high levels of returns, and added that Indian companies are also committed to make investments in Turkey. This he said during the bilateral meeting with Mr. Kursad Tuzmen, Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade, here today. Both sides agreed that India and Turkey could collaborate in R&D and their commercial spin-offs in the fields of bio-technology, nano-technology and information technology. The meeting was attended by Shri Ajay Shanker, Secretary (Industrial Policy & Promotion); Shri G.K. Pillai, Commerce Secretary and senior officials from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and representatives from the industry.

Indian investments in Turkey are in diverse sectors viz., railway construction, electricity transmission, pipelines, consultancy services for earthquake emergency, hydro-carbon, CNG conversion and IT services. Turkish investments in India are in sectors of tourism & travel, home textile products, construction/maintenance of roads etc.

During the discussions, both sides agreed to strengthen the bilateral trade relationship particularly in the small & medium enterprises (SME) sector. Shri Kamal Nath stated that Indo-Turkish trade is now on the upswing and the bilateral trade has grown from US $ 1193 million in 2005-06 to US $ 1653 million during 2006-07. Both sides noted that considerable untapped opportunities remain and both countries are seriously working at exploiting this potential for growth. It is felt that B-2-B engagement would take the bilateral trade relationship to higher levels and government on both sides need to facilitate B-2-B engagement and act as catalyst.

India’s exports to Turkey largely consist of manmade yarn fabrics, made-ups, transport equipments, cotton yarn, fabrics, drugs & pharmaceuticals & fine chemicals, plastic & linoleum products etc. The main imports from Turkey are petroleum, crude products, machinery except electrical & electronics, inorganic chemicals, spices etc.

Press Information Bureau: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=36646

Related: Indian companies keen to invest in Turkey