ARMENIA AND INDIA HAVE GREAT POTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Noyan Tapan
Mar 20 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The visit of the Indian representative
business delegation headed by the RA Honorary Consul Harshad Mehta
in Mumbai (former Bombay) shows that the sides have a considerable
intention to strengthen the existing links. RA Deputy Foreign Mininster
Armen Bayburtian stated this during his welcoming speech at the
Armenian-Indian business forum that opened at the Armenian Development
Agency (ADA) on March 20. According to him, the Honorary Consulate
of Armenia in Mumbai that opened last year has already generated the
first results of its activities. 36 representatives of various Armenian
companies and departments and 18 representatives of the Indian side
are participating in the event. Mrs. Reena Pandey, the Extraordinary
and Plenipotentairy Amabassador of India to Armenia, said that trade
turnover between the two states has grown by 50% in recent year and
this growth tendency is continuing, since there are opportunities for
cooperation, particularly in such spheres as metallurgy, information
technologies, film making industry, pharmaceutics, jewelry making,
precios stone cutting, tourism, and food industry.

(According to the RA official data, in 2005 the trade turnover
between the sides made about 15.9 mln USD. As of late 2005, 50
legal entities were operating in Armenia with Indian capital – with
investments of about 1.1 mln USD). The ambassador noted that issues
of economic cooperation development will be discussed at the sitting
of the Armenian-Indian intergovernmental commission in Yerevan this
year. The RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentairy to India
Ashot Kocharian underlined that the programs on joint work of the
Honorary Consulate of Armenia in Mumbai, the Armenian embassy in India
and the Indian embassy in Armenia have alrady been worked out. Harshad
Mehta, Honorary Consul of Armenia in Mumbai, promised that the office
headed by him will do everything to promote economic cooperation
between the two countries. He pointed out the already formed efficient
cooperation in the precious stone cutting sector. According to RA
Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development Tigran Davtian,
there is a great potential for developing the trade and economic
relations between Armenia and India. The two countries have entered
a stage of sustainable dynamic development, with almost the same
branches being considered as leading ones both in the economies of
Armenia and India. According to him, the annual export volumes of
India’s information and high technology enterprises have exceeded
10 bln USD, while at one time this index made only 50-100 mln USD,
as currently in case of Armenia. T. Davtian said that having arrived
in Armenia on March 18, the members of the Indian business delegation
have already had a number of meeting with the Armenian partners,
thanks to which some agreements have been reached. The representatives
of the Indian business delegation will continue their meetings with
Armenian businessmen on March 21.