LD PRANAB 3 LAST

Earlier Saturday, Mukherjee inaugurated the Indian
Textiles Exhibition and Buyer-Seller Meet at Hotel Riyadh
Palace along with the Saudi Commerce Minister.
The show attended by more than 20 Indian companies was
organised by the Synthetic Rayon and Textile Export Promotion
Council (SRTEPC).
India's export of man-made fibre textiles to Saudi Arabia
amounted to USD 129 million in 2008, which posted a growth of
20 per cent over 2007, said V K Ladia, SRTEPC's Vice Chairman.
The buyer-seller meet will also be organised at Hotel
Trident in Jeddah on November 4 and 5.
An exhibition of catalogues of Indian companies and
products -- India Catex 2009 -- was also held along with the
textiles exhibition at Hotel Riyadh Palace.
In addition to the official delegation, Mukherjee was
accompanied by over 50 businesspersons representing elite
business houses from public and private sectors of India.
Alireza said it was extremely important for the two sides
to create an institutional framework by which certain actions
can be taken and plans made for moving forward. "We have moved
from what used to be the old world to the new world," he said.
In the field of petroleum and mineral resources, the two
sides agreed on the importance of supporting and activating
the role of the Secretariat General for the International
Energy Forum.
Trade relations between India and the kingdom go back
several centuries. The value of two-way trade between the two
countries in 2006-07 was more than USD 23 billion, including
import of crude oil and products, while joint investments
exceeded USD 3 billion. PTI