Thursday, July 29, 2010

Huge Potential Exists in Infrastructure Sector: Anand Sharma
  



Speaking at an interactive UK-India Economic discussion here today, Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, stated that India is a growing economy and it is one of the largest markets in the world and surely in a time of economic gloom, would be a factor of stability through exports and investments. He added that “we have huge demands of infrastructure and all projections indicate that we will be in a position to absorb US $ 1.7 trillion in infrastructure over the next decade. British companies have established expertise in building world-class infrastructure and we will look forward to greater partnership, greater collaboration and assistance in this endeavour”. Shri Sharma stated that India is one the largest producer of food grains, fruits and vegetables in the world, yet the absence of robust infrastructure in the back end constrain our growth. “Food processing industry is another area which I would like to give a huge thrust in this new partnership.”



During the interaction, the Minister observed: “as our economy develops, we are likely to add 500 million people in the work force in the next decade. The imperative of training them and making them equipped is an area where partnership with UK will be mutually rewarding. Recognizing this, the National Skill Development collaboration initiative has been taken by our government. We have also consciously given a policy thrust to manufacturing for we know that a large number of this work force will be engaged not just in the service sector, but in value added manufacturing”. In our quest for increasing the share of manufacturing from 17% to 25%, we would expect long-term investment from British companies to establish manufacturing bases in India to serve not just the Indian market but look at larger Asian markets.



Shri Sharma emphasized that we must be together as two vibrant democracies in building and strengthening institutions which are democratic, representative and robust and added that the most tangible pillar of our cooperation is the bilateral cooperation and economic engagement. “Collaborative research and institutional partnerships between India and UK will ensure that together we develop these technologies for adapting to new era of low carbon emission growth. Collaboration for innovation will be the defining feature of the new generation partnership between India and Great Britain”, the Minister said.



Later, Shri Sharma had a bilateral meeting with Dr. Vincent Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, UK, followed by an MOU signing by both sides with regard to bilateral cooperation and economic engagement between the two countries.

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