Sunday 28 November, 2010.
India and Syria on Sunday launched a Joint Business Council to double the bilateral economic and trade volumes with visiting President Pratibha Patil saying that at current levels they were "far below potential".
A Memorandum of Understanding for setting up the India Syria Business Council was signed in the presence of the Indian head of state at a meeting of businessmen from both the countries.
From Indian side, it was signed by V R S Natrajan, who is the Co-chair of India-Syria Business Council and who is leading the business delegation from India . From the Syrian side, it was initially by Ali Khwanda, co-chair of the Council.
"We should renew our focus on bilateral economic and commercial ties, which at current levels is far below potential", the President said, recalling that the Bilateral Joint Commission that met in June this year, identified ways of strengthening ties including doubling bilateral trade levels in the next 2 to 3 years.
"We should now take it forward", she said, apparently referring to the current trade level at a mere USD 500 million. In fact, the refrain of Patil as also her Syrian counterpart Basher al-Assad during the visit was that India and Syria should take their historic ties to a new level, leveraging their growing importance in the world to each other's advantage, particularly in the economic sphere.
President Assad has already stressed that the volume of trade exchange was not commensurate either with the historical and political ties between the two countries, nor with "the capabilities of our two countries" and the position they enjoyed "in terms of geographical location or the regional blocs" to which they belonged to and allowed them "access to vast and promising markets for the flow of trade."
Speaking on the occasion, Syrian Minister for Economy and Trade Lamia Mari Assi called for "big involvement" by Indian companies in the infrastructure projects in Syria, which requires USD 115 billion of investments in the current five year plan forprojects in various fields.
The Indian investment could be in the form of direct investment, joint ventures or on Build-operate-transfer basis.
She said that Syria is taking steps to integrate in the world economy by carrying out reforms and has already entered into free trade agreements with Iran and Turkey and is in the process of finalsing them with Russia , Belarus and Kazakhstan as also Ukraine .
Natrajan said that India has become a "one stop shop" for all kinds of industrial and technological knowhow as also investment. Noting that time is essence in success in business, he regretted that the decision making process in Syria was a "bit delayed......protracted".
On Saturday, the two Presidents discussed cooperation in a range of fields from agriculture, health, oil, mineral resources, phosphates, electricity, transport, telecommunications, technology and highereducation, while examining the possibility of "building a real strategic partnership in areas like software, textiles, pharmaceuticals and food industry, using advanced Indian technology."
" India has also offered USD 100 million Lineof Credit to be used in Syria in sectors to be mutually agreed on, this is the Third Line of Credit.aEt
The President said India is likely to register 8.5 per cent growth in the current year, which should offer plenty of opportunities for the Syrian business community. She saidthat Indian companies are already involved in the development programme of Syria .
OVL is engaged in exploring for and production of oil; BHEL is putting up a power plant; and Apollo International is extending assistance in the modernisation of the Steel Rolling Mill in Hama .
"MECON is close to completing a feasibility report on utilisation of phosphatic resources of Syria . This, I am hopeful, would lead to greater Indian interest in thissector", she said. Earlier in the day, Patil visited AAMAL, a voluntary organisation run by First Lady of Syria Asma Al-Assad for helping the disabled.
At the banquet hosted in her honour by President Assad, Patil said " West Asia is of vital importance to us. We enjoy cultural and commercial links with countries in this region. We share the perception that the conflict in West Asia is essentially political in nature, and cannot be resolved by force."
She said that India supports a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, living within secure and recognised borders, side by side at peace with Israel , as endorsed in the Quartet Roadmap and UNSC Resolutions 1397 and 1515.
"We have supported the Arab Peace Plan, which calls for withdrawal of Israel to pre-1967 borders, along with the recognition of Israel , and the establishmentof the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital."
"We remain hopeful that the talks and negotiations would lead to a comprehensive peace process for the final resolution of the Middle East conflict," the president said.
She also appreciated the consistent support expressed by Syria for India 's permanent membership of the UN Security C
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