Murmu: India's trade with Serbia can reach 2 bln dollars

BELGRADE - Indian President Draupadi Murmu said on Thursday in Belgrade the volume of Serbia-India bilateral trade could rise from the present 320 mln dollars a year to 1 bln or 2 bln by the end of this decade.

"I have reached an agreement with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to deepen cooperation in all spheres," Murmu said at a Serbia-India business forum at the Palace of Serbia.

"Businesspeople who are here today can become a driving force of our two countries," she added.

She also said the Indian economy continued to perform well and was one of the fastest-growing economies and currently the fifth-largest in the world, and noted that it could jump to the third place by the end of the decade.

"We are developing in the pharmaceuticals industry, renewable energy sources, the IT sector, telecommunications and space technology," Murmu said.

"I have been told that Serbia has attracted over half of the investments in the Western Balkans... For Indian companies, Serbia can become an efficient gateway to the Eurasian market," she said, noting that the present moment of opportunity must be seized.

Addressing the forum, Vucic said Murmu's visit was a great privilege and an opportunity to boost bilateral economic ties.

Establishing the closest possible cooperation with India as the world's fastest-growing economy is very important to Serbia "to restore economic cooperation to the level that used to exist between the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and India, but in a new context of the current and global circumstances, which is also a challenge," Vucic noted.