Jaishankar in Cyprus: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Friday, asserted that India is on its way to becoming a manufacturing hub for the global community and intended to become a 5 trillion economy by 2025. He made these remarks during his three days visit to Cyprus to celebrate the 60 years of bilateral relations between the two nations.
Speaking at a business event hosted by the Indian High Commission in Cyprus, Jaishankar stressed that there is great potential for bilateral trade to grow between Nicosia and New Delhi.
He also pointed out that bilateral trade between India and Cyprus was approximately 214 million dollars last year. This year, the two countries are hopeful they will surpass that amount much sooner, the EAM added. According to him, the technology and infrastructure progress made in the last few years created an appetite for world investment in India.
Cyprus is the 10th largest investor in India
Jaishankar further said that India and Cyprus had an active institutional mechanism in Economic cooperation. The minister stressed that Cyprus is the 10th largest investor in India with an accumulative investment of USD 12 billion during the last 20 years.
India exported pharmaceutical products such as hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol, iron, steel, ceramic products, and electrical machinery to Cyprus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"As we look at the basket of trade, clearly there is the potential to explore more as India gets prominent in the global economy. India's trade policies and reform are competitive in the global community. The country has emerged as one of the strong destinations for FDI," Jaishankar said.
"India has a strategy to position itself as a much greater trader, manufacturer, and strong service provide after the pandemic," he added.
The minister said India used the Covid-19 period to carry out ambitious economic reforms such as the "Make in India" initiative or the "Atma Nirbhar Bharat" programme, which is a self-reliance programme, promoting capacity building within India.
India exported Covid vaccines to over 102 nations: Jaishankar
He said the country exported vaccines to more than 102 countries, including the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces, during the Covid era.
"We believe that in the post-covid era, the global economy will be looking for a resilient and reliable supply chain. It will be looking for multiplicity in manufacturing and industry," the EAM said.
He said that the lessons that India took from Covid-19 were to de-risk the global economy and that New Delhi has a strategy to position itself as a much greater trader, manufacturer, and strong service provider after the pandemic.
"The reforms were taken by the government in a much more focused way that intended to make India a manufacturing hub and to emerge a 5 trillion economy by 2025," Jiashankar said.
The minister drew attention to the success of the Product Linked Incentive (PLI) programme, which has a certain set of domains, and said the country had "pushed for investment in those domains through incentives with the idea of increasing production in India".
(With inputs from PTI)
