Seminar on Growth Through Partnership - Doing Business with East Europe
December 11, 2002, New Delhi

Welcome Address by Mr Rajendra S Lodha, President, FICCI

Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Hon'ble Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Government of India
H E Mr Lacob Zelenco, State Secretary with the Romanian Authority for Privatization & Administration of State Ownership
Mr S N Menon, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Government of India,
Your Excellencies
and Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to extend a very warm welcome to all of you to this unique Seminar on "Growth Through Partnership - Doing Business with East Europe" jointly organised by FICCI and Department of Commerce, Government of India. We, at FICCI, are indeed delighted as it is being held when FICCI is celebrating its Platinum Jubilee of serving the Indian business community and integrating the Indian economy with the global mainstream for 75 Glorious Years.

The objective of the Seminar is to take a close look at our bilateral economic ties, evaluate the emerging opportunities and crystalise future strategy.

We all know that since the fall of communism, all countries in this region, are witnessing transformation of their economic systems from centrally planned economies to market economies. The regions large market size; strategic geographic location; high rates of FDI and GDP growth; and general commitment to economic reforms, liberalization and currency stabilization makes the region an attractive place for Indian companies to do business.

India's relations with East Europe have been traditionally warm and friendly. There is considerable goodwill for India in these countries at all levels and our ties with them are multi-faceted, encompassing most areas of bilateral cooperation. Based on continuity, trust and confidence relations with East Europe continue to be an important foreign policy priority for India.
There is need to treat this region as not merely adjunct to India's policy towards EU on one hand and Russia on the other, it also has to be considered as an integral land of EU, not merely as countries with small population. Soon, as the European Union expands East to form a new Super Europe, our businessmen have to make strategic moves to make this region their gateway to Europe since it has significant advantages as business destination, political stability, high literacy, technological wealth, infrastructure central location, advanced S&T base, R&D facilities, financial resources, etc.

The exchange of high-level visits between India and East European Countries have contributed to the strengthening of our bilateral relations. However, the current two-way trade of US$ 468.91 million does not do justice to our true potential. Apart from placing frequent economic interactions high on our agenda, we need to develop a clear strategy to activate our synergies.
To facilitate trade, institutions of Joint Economic Committee at Government level have been set up with most of the countries of the region. At the private level, FICCI has set up the Joint Business Councils with nine East European Countries, namely, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Apart from this, FICCI has also hosted many delegations from various East European countries. FICCI had the privilege of hosting the dignitaries and Heads of States in the last few years from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Czech, Poland, Slovak Republic and Yugoslavia, to mention a few. The most recent one was the interactive meeting with the President of the Republic of Croatia, H E Mr Stejapan Mesic, organised on 13th November, 2002 at New Delhi and 15th November, 2002 in Mumbai.
The principle commodities of our exports to the East European Countries include drugs, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, inorganic & agro chemicals, cotton yarn, fabrics, made-ups, machinery & instruments, leather goods, gems & jewellery, etc. On the other hand India's imports from this region include iron, steel and non-ferrous metals, medical products, transport equipment, project goods, etc.

To facilitate economic and commercial transactions linkages needs to be created between Indian banks and insurance companies and their counterparts in the East European Countries. Problems like lack of reliable bonded warehousing facilities, visa and travel restrictions and lack of direct shipping / air links needs to be looked into on a priority basis.

We already have quite a few Indian companies doing business with East European Republics. However, I would like to mention that trade can only be a starting point. For a more lasting and rewarding growth of bilateral economic relations, it should lead to more mature forms of cooperation like joint venture, technology transfer, investment, etc. TCS and Wipro have already shown the way.

As was also highlighted in the Conference of Heads of Missions in Central & East European Countries held in February 2002 at Warsaw, there is need to create joint ventures in the areas where India has comparative advantages and which are of strategic nature : gems & jewellery, information technology & telecommunication, energy including oil & gas, hi-tech and knowledge based areas like bio-technology, entertainment, etc.

I hope that today's Seminar will not only achieve better understanding of what we have to offer to each other, but also concretise our partnership further.

Thank you.