CHENNAI: The Engineering Export Promotion Council has submitted a strategy paper to the Government, listing countries where India should focus more for increasing trade and developing infrastructure, according to council vice-chairman Mahesh K. Desai.

In his inaugural address, read out in his absence, at a seminar on CIS countries, organised by the council here on Friday, he said that thanks to the liberalisation , infrastructure of the Indian engineering industry had undergone a sea change. The industry had developed expertise in various areas and was capable of producing quality products at competitive prices.

Pointing out that Indian exports of engineering goods and services grew by over 20 per cent in the last three years and touched $19.8 billion in 2005-2006, he said the export to the CIS region went up to $186.86 million in 2005-2006 from $79.74 million in 2003-2004.

He referred to the Government's initiatives to augment trade between India and the CIS region. The Centre was taking steps to sign the Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement and the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova too. The agreements had already been signed with the other CIS countries.

S. Ramasundaram, Chairman and Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, and a former Joint Secretary in the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry, said the CIS was a potential region for export. However, one bottleneck was logistics. Except Russia, the other countries were landlocked.

Vladislav V. Antonyuk, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Southern India, said there was a huge prospect for cooperation between the CIS and India. The trade between the CIS countries and India stood at $2.9 billion in 2005, of which $2 billion was between India and the Russian federation.

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