New Delhi, Jun 5 (KNN) The President Pranab Mukherjee called upon companies of Belarus and India to increase their engagement in trade, investment and economic cooperation.

“As we seek to elevate our bilateral relationship, it is our business communities that possess the maximum potential to transform and energize these ties,” he said.

He was addressing a Belarus - India Business Forum organized by the Belarus Chamber of Commerce and Industry and FICCI-CII in Minsk on Thursday.

The president said with a view to further energizing bilateral co-operation, a very substantive and focussed roadmap on the India-Belarus partnership had been issued. The roadmap identifies the key sectors for the future cooperation.

These include conventional and small-scale power generation, new and renewable energy, metallurgy and mining, defence, automotive and agricultural engineering, pharmaceuticals, textiles, agriculture and food processing. All these sectors offer promising opportunities for investment.

Mukherjee informed that India will be extending a new line of credit of USD 100 million to Belarus to encourage joint projects in mutually identified sectors.

He also called upon companies from both countries to increase their engagement in trade fairs as well as national, international and regional exhibitions held in both countries respectively.

He said companies should also seek to participate more actively in international tenders of both governments, even as governmental agencies on both sides enhance information sharing to ensure that this is realised. (KNN/ST)