New Delhi (PTI): India on Friday said it wants to sell mangoes to Australia from next season and asked the country to remove non-tariff barrier for facilitating export of its agricultural, dairy and poultry products.

"India is looking forward to exporting mangoes to Australia from April 2008," an official release quoted Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath as saying.

Nath met Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean here. He said India was also keen on exporting agricultural, dairy and poultry products and Australia should facilitate these exports through appropriate market access initiatives and removal of non-tariff barriers.

India's stable investment climate offers huge opportunities to Australian companies, particularly in the field of energy and infrastructure, he said, adding that the Indian companies, particularly IT firms, have invested over one billion dollars in Australia.

Trade between the two countries, which has been growing at 28.96 per cent, stood at 7.93 billion dollars in 2006-07. Bilateral trade from April to September 2007 was worth 4.96 billion dollars, recording a growth of 29.41 per cent over the same period in 2006.

India's exports to Australia in 2006-07 were 924.78 million dollars, registering a growth of 12.61 per cent over 2005-06, while imports in 2006-07 stood at 7 billion dollars, growing by 41.64 per cent year-on-year.

Australia's trade in services with India during 2006-07 was 1.89 billion dollars. Major items of India's exports are gems, metals, machinery, cotton yarn, fabrics, drugs and pharmaceuticals, while imports consist of gold, coal, coke, metal ore and non-ferrous metals. The two countries would soon begin discussions on a proposed free trade agreement to boost trade and investment.