| Subject: |
India, Ivory Coast aim at higher line of credit to boost trade |
|
NEW DELHI: Aiming to boost bilateral trade, India and Cote d'Ivoire are looking at increasing the line of credit through the Exim Bank here, Prime Minister of the West African nation Daniel Kablan Duncan said today
He also invited Indian companies to invest in Cote d'Ivoire, popularly known as the Ivory Coast, saying that immense investment opportunities exist particularly in areas like agriculture, mining, oil & gas and infrastructure development.
"I met the vice president of Exim Bank (Export-Import Bank of India). We will increase the Line of Credit as far as the bilateral relation is concerned," Duncan told at a Ficci conference here.
"It will be interesting to have more and more Indian companies to be on the ground to see the opportunities (that exist in Ivory Coast) by themselves," he said.
Ivory Coast exports largely primary articles such as farm produce, while its imports consist of finished items such as pharmaceuticals, automobiles and plastics among others.
"We are working with the Indian EXIM Bank on how to increase the line of credit in order to increase trade. We are also working in our country for having export insurance," Minister of Commerce, Craft and SME Promotion of Cote d'Ivoire Jean Louis Billion said.
Duncan said it would take 24 hours to set up a company in his country and 21 days for that company to obtain the requisite approvals for an investment project and begin operations.
Trade between Cote d'Ivoire and India grew from$ 18 million in 2004 to$ 572 million in 2013 with a record high of$ 764 million in 2012.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
|