The Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) sees significant potential in the development of exports of Slovak companies to the Indian market. A possible free trade agreement between the European Union and India would bring a shift and simplify the application of Slovak entrepreneurs on the Indian market. SARIO said this to TASR in connection with the trip of Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár (Smer-SD) to India with the participation of a business mission, the Special Rapporteur reports.
“In the qualitative structure of mutual trade, we observe a trend of increasing trade in engineering and technological commodities, which are among the key sectors of the Slovak economy. We have not only a rich history and quality in them, but also great development potential, for example, automotive, energy and renewable energy, information and communication technologies, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, space technologies,” the agency added.
At the request of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MFAE) of the Slovak Republic, SARIO ensured the coordination of the agenda, recruitment of participants, preparation of business forums in New Delhi and Kolkata and presentation of the Slovak investment and business environment, as well as prospective sectors for cooperation on the current business mission. In addition, representatives of the Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the partner organization FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry).
Within the recruitment for the business mission, the agency received 33 registrations, from which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic selected 24 final participants from nine sectors – energy, food, ICT (information and communication technologies), construction and real estate, engineering, transport and logistics, science and research, trade, consulting.
SARIO said that it is committed to developing mutual economic relations, while India is one of the largest markets with great growth potential in terms of exports. Since 2017, the agency has successfully implemented three investment projects originating from India, totalling €1.5 million, which created 250 jobs. The investment projects from India that SARIO has worked on in the past were mainly in the automotive, ICT and shared service centre sectors. These were investors Tata Consultancy Services, Dhoot Transmission and HCL Technologies.
Eximbank is also ready to help Slovak companies in exporting to India. “Traditional and still promising sectors in terms of export support through our insurance, banking and guarantee products are the engineering industry and the supply of technological solutions. In particular, we see growing interest in higher value-added exports from the electronics industry. The possibility of Eximbank’s support may have a specific relevance especially for companies that are currently in the final stage of licensing and permitting procedures for the implementation of activities on the Indian market,” Matúš Šársky, Eximbank’s Director of International Relations, assessed for TASR.