President Kovind invites Croatian businesses to invest in India

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday invited Croatian businesses to invest in India and take advantage of the huge opportunities offered by the country that is witnessing fast paced changes.

Addressing the Croatian-Indian Economic Forum here, Kovind said though India is known as the land of culture and spiritualism in the European nation, Croatian people "need to experience the economic energy, dynamism and vigour of the new India in the making".

"India is changing and changing fast...As Governments, we can be the facilitators for business but business communities are the true spearheads of greater economic engagement," he said, inviting Indian and Croatian businesses to partner with each other for trade, technology and investment collaboration.

 

The President said the India-Croatia Business Council can assist in identifying new areas of cooperation.

According to the Indian Embassy in Zagreb, during the period between January 2018 to August 2018, total bilateral trade between the two nations stood at Euro 97.48 million.

Addressing the students of the University of Zagreb separately on the theme "India-Croatia relations -- the way forward", the President said there is much India-Croatia can do together.

The two countries, he said, should now build a "new-age partnership", which is anchored in economic synergies, geo-political realities, technology and innovation, sustainability and the fourth Industrial Revolution.

Underlining that India's skill in information technology is well known, Kovind said, "India has a thriving research and development services market, which is expected to reach USD 38 billion by 2020. A third of the top 1000 companies in terms of global research and development spending, now have centres in India."

"The knowledge economy wrapped around the digital highway and powered by artificial intelligence has immense scope to bring our research-labs together, to bring our entrepreneurs together, and to bring new solutions for health and well-being for our people," he added.

He said India has a special connect with the University of Zagreb, and particularly its Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, for hosting the Department of Indology where one can pursue study of Indian history, literature, philosophy and culture.

Kovind is currently on a three-nation tour to Croatia, Bolivia and Chile. His travel marks the first time that an Indian President has visited Croatia and Bolivia. He will leave for Bolivia on Thursday.