Madrid, April 22: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday expressed satisfaction over the growing trade relations between India and Spain and spoke about a wide spectrum of issues on which both the countries can benefit through mutual cooperation.

President Patil, on this occasion, addressed a joint business meet, comprising leaders of the business delegation from India and businesspersons from Spain and India.

President Patil in her address said: “Last year our bilateral trade crossed the figure of 4.5 billion dollars. In the last two years, it has grown over 50 per cent. Indian companies are present in Spain in the automobile, software, pharmaceutical, energy and infrastructure sectors and are doing well. Many Spanish companies are already present and active in India and thus aware of our growth story.”

Admitting a temporary decline in national growth rate from of 9 per cent recorded in last four years to 7 per cent in the last year, Patil said that the India expects to achieve the 9 to 10 percent growth rate in 2009.

“The Indian economy has witnessed an impressive growth of 9 percent in the last four years. Even today in the midst of the financial crisis, our economy is holding its ground well as compared to many others. Though our growth rate has been affected and fell to 7 percent in 2008, we expect to achieve a similar growth rate in 2009. Our objective remains to grow at between 9 to 10 per cent on a sustainable basis so that we can make a major dent on poverty. To sustain this level of growth, India needs to further strengthen infrastructure building. We have calculated that our needs in the next 5 years would be 700 billion dollars,” Patil said.

President Patil, on this occasion, highlighted six sectors--infrastructure development, renewable energy, agriculture, R&D, tourism and cooperation in Latin America-- where there was clear synergy between the two nations.

“India is committed to creating world class infrastructure in highways, railways, seaports, airports, telecommunications, power generation, logistic parks, cargo handling, and warehouses and so on. Spanish enterprises are well-known for executing large-scale projects in infrastructure and we invite them to take a closer look at opportunities unfolding in India in infrastructure development,” Patil said. (ANI)