Tuesday, February 15 2005 17:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: India and Italy today (Feb 15, 2005) set themselves a target of achieving five billion Euro of bilateral trade in next two years.

This was indicated by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath at a meeting of India-Italy Business Forum which was attended by Italian President Carlo Azgelio Ciampi.

The three billion Euro two-way trade between India and Italy was growing at about 10 per cent, and the enabling environment in New Delhi's foreign trade sector would help trade and industry on the two sides to achieve the target, an official statement said in New Delhi, quoting Nath.

The Minister highlighted the opportunities for investment in India and also pointed at large gaps in the physical infrastructure and energy generation capacities. The country was looking at investments to the tune of $ 150 billion to fill these gaps, he added.

Referring to FDI policy initiatives, Nath said many new sectors had been opened to FDI and up to 100 per cent of foreign investment was permitted in most sectors.

At his meeting with Italian Minister for production activities, industry, energy and trade, Antonio Marzano, Nath sought Italy's cooperation as a member of EU in settling the issue of various non-tariff barriers being imposed on supposed grounds of health and sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards.