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PM for five-day visit to Italy, Portugal

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will leave on a five-day visit to Italy and Portugal during which he will attend the first ever India-EU summit aimed at giving a new thrust to New Delhi's relations with the grouping on both political and economic planes.

The 15-nation European Union, or EU, wishes to make India a 'privileged partner' and is looking forward to the summit on June 28 in the Portuguese capital Lisbon as an opportunity to enable bilateral trade surpass $ 20 billion and to give their relations a "clear identity and political consistency," EU officials said.

The Prime Minister will be paying a two-day official visit to Italy, an important interlocutor for India, both, politically and economically, besides being a significant trading partner and an important investor in this country, from June 25.

In Rome, Vajpayee will hold bilateral talks with Italian President Ciampi and his Italian counterpart Amato and attend a business meeting organised by the FICCI and its Italian counterpart. An agreement on cooperation in tourism will be signed during the visit.

Stating that India was emerging as a 'major global player', Italian ambassador to India Benedetto Amari said Rome viewed Vajpayee's visit as 'timely' and 'very important' since it acknowledges New Delhi's new and active role in coming years on the international scene.

UN reforms, nuclear issue and menace of international terrorism are expected to top the agenda of discussions between the two sides.

From Rome, the Prime Minister will fly to Lisbon on June 27 and as a precursor to the summit, he will address a India-EU business meeting organised by CII and the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry. About 30 representative Indian companies and over 200 European firms are expected to participate in the meeting.

The Prime Minister is likely to speak at length about India's economic reform programmes and the directions it will take in the future.

The Indian delegation at the summit would comprise External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Commerce and Industry Minister Murosoli Maran and Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres will represent the EU side in his capacity as the President of the grouping and European Commission President Romano Prodi.

A joint declaration to be issued at the end of the summit would provide a blueprint for upgrading India-EU relations to a qualitatively higher level to build a new strategic partnership in the new century, Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh said.

The summit will also finalise an Agenda for Action which will include joint initiatives in the political, economic and commercial fields to further strengthen India-EU partnership.

On the economic side, the declaration would reflect the significant growth achieved by India in crucial sectors, especially information technology, and the need for substantial increase in the flows of investment, technology, expertise and service providers between India and the EU.

India is expected to explore the possibility of an Indo-EU Free Trade Area, or FTA, and take up issues of market access and anti-dumping measures initiated by European Union countries against Indian goods.

Market access problems faced by several Indian goods in the EU market, including various anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations, sanitary and phyto-sanitary regulations facing products of Indian origin in sectors like textiles, steel and pharmaceutical, would also figure at the summit.

India's bilateral trade with EU has reached $ 20 billion annually, while over $ 53 billion foreign direct investment, or FDI, has been approved from EU countries.

On the political side India will convey its strong concerns over international terrorism and its linkage with drug trafficking and would also seek EU support for its sustained efforts for a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council.

During his stay in Lisbon, Vajpayee will also hold bilateral talks with President Jorge Sampaio and his Portuguese counterpart to further consolidate friendly relations between the two countries.

A bilateral agreement on Protection and Promotion of Investments will be signed by the two sides.

PTI

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