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Quality rules India-EU firms' co-operation

Ranvir Nayar in Brussels

About 120 agreements of co-operation and collaboration between Indian and European Union companies have been signed and executed since a partnership fair in New Delhi in March last year.

And quality is emerging as the central theme of co-operation with India under the Asia Invest programme, which the European Commission launched to promote ties between small and medium companies from Asia and the EU.

Asia Invest officials say a large majority of the pacts with Indian companies are focused on quality control, which is a critical area for India.

"Indian companies recognise that they have to invest a lot in quality in order to be able to compete globally," said an official.

One of the projects that is currently running involves training Indian food processing companies in installing quality controls that will ensure that the produce of these plants meets the standards required for the Western markets.

Similarly, the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce is running a programme that imparts training on new techniques and environment protection for the tanneries in Andhra Pradesh.

Asia Enterprise is another major project under Asia Invest programme. It brought together Indian and EU companies in the sphere of environment technologies.

Nearly 50 companies from the EU participated in this programme.

EU officials say they are very encouraged by the recent developments. "We are seeing the beginning of something great. Even big industrial organisations on both sides are getting involved and interested in our projects," said the director of Asia Invest.

One major project in the pipeline has been conceived by the Confederation of Indian Food Trade and Industry. This involves a meeting of European and Indian food processing companies, to be held next year, to look at technology transfer and quality controls in the sector.

Major Indian industry associations like the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry will also be involved in the venture.

Asia Invest is also encouraged by the fact that individual Indian states have been coming up with ideas relevant to their own industries.

For instance, Kerala has come up with ideas regarding the rubber industry, Tamil Nadu about engineering, Uttar Pradesh in food processing and leather, Andhra Pradesh in pharmaceuticals, Gujarat in chemicals and West Bengal in plastics.

"We feel very satisfied that the individual states are also coming forward to participate in these projects. This will really deepen and broaden the co-operation between EU and Indian industries and make this relationship a real grassroots one," said the Asia Invest official.

"All these projects will get under way next year and we may even come up with some pre-programme campaigns in order to create awareness about them so that maximum benefits could be derived," said the official.

Indo-Asian News Service

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