India, Greece eye $1 bn in annual trade

Greece, India vow to boost trade volume by 2010

ATHENS: Greece and India are set to boost their trade volume to a US$1 billion (euro730 million) annually by 2010, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said Thursday at the start of a four-day visit to Athens.

Kalam met President Karolos Papoulias on Thursday, and accompanying ministers signed two bilateral agreements for science and technological cooperation and reciprocal protection of
investment.

``I am very glad that two agreements have been signed,'' Kalam said. ``Greece is indeed very good on infrastructure building, so Greece and India will be partners'' in creating infrastructure.

He also said the two sides agreed it was necessary to increase bilateral trade to US$1 billion (euro730 million) by 2010. In the first 10 months of this year, the two countries traded goods worth US$606 million (euro444 million) _ up 57 percent from the same period in 2005, according to the Federation of Greek
Industries.

During his visit, Kalam planned to hold talks with other Greek officials and business leaders, and to visit ancient sites in Athens.

He visited France earlier this week, and gave an address at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.