THE AMBASSADOR OF INDIA CALLS ON VICEPRESIDENT JOSE VICENTE RANGEL: INDIA-VENEZUELA TRADE SURGES
The Indian Ambassador estimates that the exchange with Venezuela will reach 1 Billion Dollars.
The Ambassador of India in Venezuela , Deepak Bhojwani, commented last Tuesday 06.06.2006, on his way out from a meeting with the Executive vice President, Jose Vicente Rangel, that the exchange between the two countries should reach 1 billion Dollars this year.
In the Vice-presidency's press room the diplomat informed: “I came to inform the Vice President on the state of bilateral relations between Venezuela and India and the steps after the visit of President Chavez to our country in March, 2005”
“We have a fairly substantive relation in many aspects – he assured – we are collaborating in the economic and energetic sectors as well as in science and technology, etc.”
According to Bhojwani, “ India has purchased 6 million barrels of crude oil during the first quarter and we hope to purchase some more, because we are seeking our energetic security and Venezuela , brother country, can provide us with it. The state enterprises of India , jointly with PDVSA are planning the entry of our country in the Venezuelan oil sector, in order to participate in exploitation and supply”.
“In the year 2004, the exchange was very small, reaching some 60 million Dollars; last year we reached some 138 million Dollars. At this moment Venezuelan exports are growing, with the oil supply those figures will be exceeded. We do not have the latest figures but I imagine that we have purchased some 400 million Dollars in oil so I foresee the possibility of reaching almost 1 billion dollars in bilateral exchange by the end of this year.”
“Besides, we are offering our technology and experience regarding infrastructure, science and technology, education, health and many other areas”.
Trains, health and education
On the other hand he informed that the Asian country exports to Venezuela medicines, engineering products, two, three and four wheel vehicles, etc. A large quantity of things we are exporting, besides we are offering our experience and technology in infrastructure for railways. There is already a Letter of Intention signed with Venezuela to set up a railway project here. We can also offer good technology for low cost housing, etc. On both sides we expect to have a much stronger exchange.”
Regarding health, there are “eight Indian companies here, supplying the Venezuelan market with very high quality generic medicines at a good price. Besides we have two or three companies that are offering to the Health Ministry to set up joint ventures to manufacture generic medicines, one of these companies has presented a project to manufacture anti-AIDS medicines here to supply the Venezuelan market as well as all of Latin America .”
The exchange also covers the area of education, “We have recently launched a free chair that will be dictated at the end of the month at the Universidad de los Andes (University of Los Andes) and we have made the same offer to the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela (Bolivarian University of Venezuela). We have a project for cooperation with the UBV and the Ministry of Higher Education”.
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Ultima Noticias,
Wednesday, 7th June 2006
India asks Venezuela to supply more Oil
The Ambassador of the country, Deepak Bhojwani, yesterday assured after meeting with Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel that Venezuela can become a secure supplier of crude.
He indicated that in the first six months of the year, “ India has bought six million barrels of crude and we expect to buy more”, as the diplomat explained. “We are looking for energy security and Venezuela , a sister country, can provide it”, he added.
He said that Indian State oil companies and PDVSA were planning entry of that Asian country in exploration and supply of oil, and the Ambassador does not rule out a joint venture to exploit the Orinoco belt.
As for oil business, the Ambassador estimates that the bilateral trade could go up this year to one billion Dollars.
Bhojwani ratified that the relationship between both countries “is quite substantial”, while indicating that India will continue to contribute to this country in the sectors of health, infrastructure, education, science and technology, among others.
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El Universal,
Wednesday, 7th June 2006
Sharp Rise in Trade Foreseen with India due to Oil Exports
Bilateral trade between Venezuela and India will go up this year to about US$ 1 billion, thanks to exports of Venezuelan crude, said the Indian Ambassador in Caracas , Deepak Bhojwani, on Tuesday.
Bhojwani expressed, after his meeting with the Vice President, that India bought six million barrels during the first semester of this year of Venezuelan crude and hopes “to buy more because we are looking for energy security, and Venezuela , a sister country, can provide it.”
The diplomat indicated, according to a communique circulated by the Vice President's Office, that according to his estimates, India bought during 2006, close to US$400 million worth of oil. “I see the possibility of reaching almost one billion Dollars of bilateral trade by the end of this year,” he said.
Venezuela plans to sign an agreement with India which will enable it to extract heavy crude in the South American country and which could include an agreement to supply oil to Indian refineries, the Venezuelan Minister of Energy, Rafael Ramirez, conveyed in the beginning of this month.
Bhojwani pointed out that in 2004, trade between the two countries was about US$60 million and that last year, it went up to US$138 million.
Among products which Venezuela is buying from India are included medicines and machinery.
Venezuela and India signed a Letter of Intent to construct a railway line in Venezuela .
Both countries are examining the possibility of setting up in Venezuela a joint venture to manufacture generic anti-AIDS medicines to supply the local market and the rest of Latin America , the diplomat mentioned.
President Hugo Chavez visited India in March last year to bolster relations and trade with the country.
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El Nacional
Wednesday, 7 th June, 2006
The echange between India and Venezuela surges
The commercial interchange between India and Venezuela could jump from 138 millions of dollars in 2005 to 1 thousand million of dollars in 2006, due to the growing sales of crude, said this Tuesday the Ambassador of this country in Caracas, Deepak Bhojwani, after a meeting at the Vice presidency of the Republic.
“We don't have the latest numbers, but I figure out that we already bought about 400 million of dollars of oil, so I see the possibility of achieving almost one billion dollars from the bilateral interchange at the end of this year”, Bhojwani added.