WARSAW, May 19: Poland and India signed a cooperation agreement on Friday aimed at boosting trade and investment between the two countries, officials said.

“I’m confident that signing this agreement starts a new chapter in our trade and economic engagement in Poland,” Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told journalists at a joint press conference with Polish Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak.

Trade between Poland and India was worth $512 million in the first 11 months of 2005, according to Polish economy ministry.

Nath said the figure should be higher. “We should be talking billions and not millions,” he said.

“I believe it’s time that our warm political relations have an equally large economic content,” Nath added.

Wozniak hoped the agreement signed between the two countries “will be a new impulse in our economic relations.”

“We will be starting from sectors we have cooperated in for decades: the defence sector and related products, and extraction and trading in coal. We are going to rapidly expand our cooperation to other sectors.”

Wozniak said he particularly wanted Polish firms to be involved in major infrastructure projects in India.

“The need for investment in India’s infrastructure in the next decade will be over $150 billion... we should join other international companies that are going to be building that infrastructure.”

Polish exports to India, including defence industry products and industrial machinery, were worth $177 million from January to November 2005, according to the Polish economy ministry.

The value of imports from India, including textiles and chemical products, was $334.8 million in the same period.—AFP