SPEECH BY HER EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, SHRIMATI PRATIBHA DEVISINGH PATIL AT THE BUSINESS INTERACTION ORGANIZED BY AUSTRIAN FEDERAL ECONOMIC CHAMBERS(WKO)

Vienna, Austria, 6th October 2011

It gives me great pleasure to be with the business representatives of the Austrian and Indian Industry here in Vienna today. The economic and commercial linkages between our two countries are at the core of our bilateral ties. Greater content and depth in this field would impart substance and dynamism to overall bilateral relations. Business communities therefore are important constituents of the India-Austria relationship.

Growth rates of over 20 percent in our bilateral trade registered in the current year are impressive by any standards but especially so in today's global economic scenario. However, the current level of our trade of about 1.1 billion Euro is below the potential of our two countries. We must jointly endeavour to identify new openings and to optimise the utilization of existing opportunities to achieve this potential. India's economic growth holds many possibilities for the expansion of bilateral economic cooperation. Sustained by the strong fundamentals, a GDP growth rate of the order of 8 percent has yielded tangible benefits, in terms of employment generation and improvement in the standards of living of the people, enlarging the market for consumers as well as industrial goods.

While our achievements have been many, we remain fully cognizant of the tasks that remain to be completed. All our citizens need to benefit from the development process, and India's paramount interest is to ensure that our economic development has an inclusive character. The fulfilment of our goals would depend to a great extent on the ability to tackle the constraints in our physical infrastructure. India has been focussed on improving its infrastructure, and investments of close to one trillion US Dollars would be required in the coming years, to implement these plans. This provides an excellent investment opportunity for foreign companies. Power, roads, railways, airports and ports are all India's overarching priorities. Austria has well-known strengths in these fields. I have witnessed first hand, here in Vienna, the excellent facilities established in urban areas which sets an example for the rest of the world. Austrian strengths in infrastructure, automotive and environment friendly technologies provide a good complementarity to the requirements of the Indian economy.

Many important firms from Austria have a long established presence in the fields of railways and engineering. Many companies have done well to consolidate on this foundation, and establish their physical presence in many business and industry centres of India in the last five years. Their expertise and specialized skills in tunnelling, bridges, energy systems, electrical equipment, and construction and many other fields, places them in an advantageous position to avail of the emerging opportunities in India today. Small and Medium Enterprises also offer another area of opportunity. Here, I would like to compliment the Austrian Federal Economic Chambers - WKO, including its offices in India, in proactively bringing the business communities of our two countries together. I have been told that, on an average, an Austrian business delegation visits India every month. I hope that this frequency only grows in the future, if our trade and industry co-operation has to grow.

A critical and an absolutely necessary input for the sustainable growth of a nation's economy and all its sectors - industry, agriculture or business - is technology, which in turn, depends on research and development. I am convinced that there is need to be innovative in finding solutions to, not just Indian, but global challenges. Austria is known for the high quality of its research institutions oriented to industry and commercial application. I see this as an important component of our bilateral collaborations. India is fortunate to be endowed with rich human capital and a strong knowledge base. We have been successful in many frontier areas - space, nuclear energy, Information Technology and bio-technology, among others. I feel that it would be useful to share our knowledge and experience, to translate the cutting-edge knowledge of science into products for the market. This will yield benefits both in terms of new employment and new products for consumers.

We already have existing cooperation programmes between educational institutions of our two countries. Indian scholars are doing research in Linz, in the field of mathematics. The Technical Universities of Vienna and Graz have had joint programmes with the Indian Institutes of Technology, and it is good that two mini-satellites built by researchers from these two technical universities are being launched by ISRO - India's space research organization. Technical education linkages would get a fillip and new momentum, if on both sides, businesses were to assess the value of such research and collaboration and promote them.

India and the EU are strategic partners. Austria is an integral part and important member of the EU. Our strong ties in the economic sphere will strengthen not just bilateral relations but our overall partnership with the EU. India and the EU are negotiating a broad based Trade and Investment Agreement which will, in our view, serve the mutual interest of both sides. I visualize great opportunities for expansion of trade in goods and services and two-way investment through this Agreement. I hope that this is concluded at the earliest to the mutual satisfaction of both partners.

In conclusion, I would like to share with you that my interactions in Austria, including at the highest political level, have left me in no doubt that the India-Austria relationship has a bright future. Our relationship is very old and time tested. My visit is to further strengthen these. I am confident that your deliberation today will contribute to the strengthening of these ties and add to their breadth and depth. I wish you success in your deliberations here. I wish you success in your deliberations here. I would like to especially thank President Fischer for his strong support to building ties between the two countries and for being present here.

Thank you!