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Spain keen to step up economic relations

Special Correspondent

The European country offers infrastructure expertise

— Photo: R. V. Moorthy

BULLISH ON TIES: Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (left), with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prior to their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: Spain plans to intensify its engagement with India in the areas of business, economy and culture in the next few years. This was stated here on Monday by the visiting Spanish President, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, while addressing a joint business meeting organised by the apex industry chambers.

Inviting India to join Spain in facing global challenges, he said that in the next few years, India would witness an "explosion of Spanish presence'' in the country. He said this would begin next year when an institute of languages was expected to be established here. Seeking mutually beneficial ties between the two countries, he said Spain would learn in the field of IT and biotechnology from India. Similarly, India could take advantage of Spain's expertise in the fields of infrastructure where an opportunity for investment of 100 billion euros existed, he said.

Mr. Zapatero said Spanish industry had now gained enough experience to venture into geographies like India that it had never entered before, especially since India had become a lucrative market and was expected to become the third largest economy by 2020. He also expressed interest in India's expertise in the fields of education and technology which had become the main drivers of India's growth rate. He said bilateral agreements would be signed in these fields.

The Science and Technology Minister, Kapil Sibal, called for investment from Spain in the infrastructure sector where an investment of $33 billion in airports and $35 billion in the railways was needed. "Spain has a vast pool of agricultural resources, which can be utilised in forging better partnership with India's agro-based economy,'' he said.

The combined potential of both countries in this sector would have the capability to cater to the needs of the entire world, he said, adding that India was slated to become the "granary of the world".

Earlier, a business delegation accompanying the Spanish President expressed interest in areas of high speed railway lines and in providing technological knowhow for upgrading municipal drinking water supply projects. Out of the world's ten biggest BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) companies in the railway sector, he said seven were Spanish.

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