The visit by Italian Prime Minister,
Romano Prodi, has taken Indo-Italian partnership at new high with
the signing of 11 MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) between Indian
and Italian companies on Feb 14. The agreements were signed here
in the presence of Mr. Prodi and the Union Commerce Minister,
Kamal Nath.
The firms are primarily from the auto sector followed by two
each in the defence and electronics, oil and gas, banking and
finance, and education sector.
Both the countries are enjoying excellent trade relationships
Prodi added saying, India has to offer easy market accessibility
to Italy on a reciprocal basis. He has also requested for customs-tariff
reduction.
Auto sector
Auto sector is excelling on forefront. Tata Motors, India's largest
automobile company, has enhanced its strategic co-operation with
Fiat Auto, best known for Fiat cars by undertaking an overseas
industrial project for the very first time. Both the companies
are looking forward to underpin their commercial relationships
by following a feasibility study to enter the commercial vehicle
area jointly in prospective markets.
Defence and electronics
In the defence and electronics sector, Selex Sistemi Intergrati,
part of the Finmeccanica group and providing the latest solutions
for air defence, vessel traffic management, coastal defence and
air traffic management systems the design and manufacture of helicopters,
missiles defence electronics, transportation and energy, has signed
an MoU with India's largest engineering goods manufacturer, Bharat
Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL).
Selex Sistemi Intergrati, a Finmeccanica company signed the MoU
with India’s largest engineering manufacturer, Bharat Heavy
Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) for joint production of advance defence
related electronics in India for marketing in domestic and international
markets.
BHEL already has similar agreements with other Finmeccanica group
companies. Following in footsteps, Elettronica, another pioneering
company in electronic defence, has entered into an agreement with
Alpha Design Technologies for the design development and production
for electronic warfare systems for the Indian defence market.
