New Delhi, Jan 5 (ANI): Stating that economic ties are an important component of the strategic partnership between the two nations, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday called for expansion of bilateral trade basket between India and Saudi Arabia to include non-oil products.
Mukherjee in his opening remarks at the 9th India-Saudi Arabia Joint Commission Meeting said the bilateral trade between India and Saudi Arabia exceeded US$ 25 billion last year.
"However, it comprises mainly petroleum and its by-products. There is a great scope to expand our bilateral trade basket to include non-oil products and we need to mount a concerted effort to enlarge and widen our trade basket. Equally important, we need to move into areas of investment and joint ventures. There is immense potential for increasing our trade in services as well," he added.
Mukherjee expressed hope that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be able to assist India in meeting its energy security needs in the years to come.
"The rapidly expanding Indian economy has a growing requirement of crude oil to sustain its development momentum," he said.
Mukherjee said India has vast experience in the hydrocarbons sector not only India, but also in other oil rich countries.
"We have specialists both in the upstream and in the downstream areas including in training, capacity building and Research and Development. India would be happy to participate in the Exploration and Production activities with Saudi Arabia in our two countries and also in third countries," said Mukherjee.
"India has national plans to build refineries and petrochemical projects. The Joint Working Group on hydrocarbons could explore mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation initiatives in this area," he added.
The Finance Minister further said India would be delighted to share its experience with Saudi Arabia in the areas of science and technology, IT and telecom, and in developing affordable technologies in a range of employment generating Small and Medium Enterprises.
Lauding the initiatives taken by the Government of Saudi Arabia for the welfare and well being of Indians in Saudi Arabia , Mukherjee said : "It would be necessary and useful to have a Memorandum of Understanding on Labour and Employment keeping in view our large expatriate work force in Saudi Arabia."
Mukherjee said the proposed India-Saudi Arabia Investment Fund of US$ 750 million to be jointly set up by Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia and a counterpart Indian agency needs to be given high priority as it is mutually beneficial.
"India needs an investment of close to a trillion dollars in the next five to seven years to build and expand its existing infrastructure to be able to sustain a GDP growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent," said Mukherjee.
Mukherjee also called for regular interaction between the various Joint Committees and working groups on Science and Technology, Higher Education, Information Technology, Health etc. to carry forward the ongoing cooperation as well as explore new opportunities.
"Chairpersons of the sub Committees must work in tandem with a view to bring the planned programmes of cooperation to fruition expeditiously," said Mukherjee.
"It would be useful if the Co-Chairs of the three sub Committees could submit joint reports once every six months to the Co-Chairs of the JCM on the progress achieved," he added.
Welcoming the Saudi Arabian delegation, Mukherjee said: "This is an important meeting and an excellent opportunity for both of us to take stock of the progress made since the "Riyadh Declaration" and undertakes measures for successful and expeditious realization of the objectives which our leaders have set forth in the "Delhi Declaration-2006" as well as the "Riyadh Declaration 2010." (ANI)
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