Trade pact with Mongolia on the anvil

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JAN. 2. The Governments of Mongolia and India will be signing an MoU for technology transfer and trade in specific areas of bilateral interest, the Mongolian President, Mr. Natsagiin Bagabandi, said here today.

Addressing a meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Southern Region, he said the areas identified so far ranged from mining, mineral exploration and food processing to information technology and other knowledge-based industries. Joint ventures between Indian and Mongolian corporates could export their products to the Russian Federation and East Asia, he added.

During the past decade, Mongolia had become a democratic country with a multi-party parliamentary system and a liberal economy, Mr. Bagabandi said. Forex rules had been liberalised and the laws were being amended to allow free flow of foreign investments. The country offered many possibilities because of its large cattle wealth, minerals, oil deposits and other natural resources. Mongolia was also interested in tourism development and in technology relating to renewable energy, he added.

He said the taxation laws were being modified to allow more overseas investment in key areas, and there would be no VAT on export-oriented goods. Indian expertise in computers, the Internet and networking would be useful to Mongolia with a vast geographical area and scattered population, Mr. Bagabandi added.

Agricultural production in that country, he said, had declined during the period of political and economic transition, and India's help in increasing productivity would be welcomed. For better communications and faster travel between the two countries, there was a recent agreement between the Civil Aviation Ministries of the two governments, to explore direct flights, he pointed out.

The Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries, Mr. R.V. Deshpande, said Bangalore, which was a centre of the emerging new economy and hitech industries, was the first stop in the Mongolian President's Indian visit.

Karnataka could collaborate with Mongolia in key sectors such as engineering, manufacturing, food processing, IT, biotechnology and mining. Bangalore had several R&D institutions of international repute, which could help in technology transfer.

The CII President, Mr. Arun Bharat Ram, who welcomed the President and the Mongolian delegation, said the CII was planning to take a business delegation to that country this year.

He invited Mongolian businessmen to visit the Bi-annual International Engineering Fair to be held in February.

A wide range of leading-edge technologies had been developed in India with emphasis on IT and high technology. There were also other projects in Mongolia, funded by many countries, in which Indian industry would like to be involved, Mr. Bharat Ram said.

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