NEW DELHI: India and Saudi Arabia Friday agreed to increase investments in each other's country through joint ventures to enhance economic cooperation. Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Saudi Arabian Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Bin Ahmed Zainal Alireza, who met here, agreed to regular exchange of business delegations in both countries. While India-Saudi Arabia trade ties at present are already quite substantial, there is immense potential for taking the bilateral trade relations to the higher level, Sharma said. “Sharma said that India is keen to set up joint ventures for gas-based fertilizer plant in Saudi Arabia. Indian firms have evinced keen interest in setting up of such projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” an official statement said. India received foreign direct investment worth $31.5 million between April 2000 and August 2010 from Saudi Arabia. Main sectors attracted FDI from Saudi Arabia are electrical equipment, food processing industries, automobile industry, computer software &hardware, and telecommunications. Sharma said immense potential was available for both the nations to take the bilateral trade relations to a higher level. He informed Alireza that strategies should be developed to increase the trade volume in traditional items and diversify the trade basket, it said. Bilateral trade between the two countries increased to $21 billion in 2009-10 from $3.44 billion in 2005-06. India's main exports to the Kingdom consist of petroleum products, basmati rice, machinery and coal tar while products imported from Saudi Arabia include petroleum products, chemicals and plastic.
