"It is a pleasure to welcome in our midst today, His Excellency Prime Minister Romano Prodi and his Cabinet colleagues.

Dr. Prodi is a friend of India and has visited India on several occasions both as the Prime Minister of Italy and as the President of the European Commission. He has not only contributed to the promotion of the Indo-Italian partnership but also to the strategic partnership between India and the European Union.

Both India and Italy attach importance to strengthening our bilateral relationship for mutual benefit.

Our discussions today have indeed been useful in focusing on the various aspects of our Partnership in diverse areas of our interaction. These include economic linkages, cooperation in science & technology, culture and defence.

We have signed three MOUs today :

* Cultural Exchange Programme 2007-09 * MOU on Renewable Energy Cooperation * MOU on Cooperation in Counter Terrorism

We have also issued a Joint Statement today that indicates the direction in which our partnership will be moving forward in the various areas of our interaction.

There is good ongoing economic cooperation between India and Italy, which has been steadily increasing. There are significant complementarities between our two economies. We hope to synergise Italian strengths in design and technology with India's manufacturing competencies and human resource skills. We also look forward to strengthening small and medium enterprise (SME) linkages.

The large number of CEOs of leading Italian companies, accompanying Prime Minister Prodi on this visit, is another indicator of the importance that both India and Italy attach to the economic aspects of our relationship.

Indian companies are setting up operations in Italy in sectors such as IT, electronics, engineering, pharmaceuticals and textiles. Indian investment in Italy is increasing. Italian companies have invested in India in key sectors such as textiles, machinery, infrastructure and chemicals. We welcome the initiative by the private sector of both countries in launching an Indo-Italian CEO Forum.

Italy is an active member of the European Union, which is India's largest trading partner. India and the EU had agreed to launch negotiations for a broad-based India-EU Trade & Investment Agreement at the last Summit in Helsinki. We count on Italy's support in its successful conclusion.

We look forward to strengthening our close and mutually beneficial partnership with Italy bilaterally as well as in the framework of the EU. We are confident that this visit of Prime Minister Prodi will provide substantial impetus to our partnership.

Thank you."