India Inc for fertilizer jv in Syria, DTAA signed

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

New Delhi, June 18:: India has proposed to explore the rich rock phosphate deposits in Syria to meet its needs for phosphate fertilizers. Syria has large reserves of rock phosphates which can be exploited for production of di-amonium phosphates (DAP) used as a fertilizer in agriculture.

A joint Syria-India Business Council is likely to step up soon for identifying areas of investment cooperation between the two countries. The forum will include at least 20 representatives from the industry on each side and suggest to the governments of both the countries.

India and Syria also signed a revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA)

The visiting Syrian president, Bashar Al Assad Who Assad is leading a strong business delegation consisting of representatives from manufacturing, medical industry, cosmetics and healthcare, computer equipment, electrical appliances and cables, hotels-pipeline industry, food and agro processing sectors has called for bilateral trade and investment cooperation.

Speaking at an interaction with the Indian industry on Wednesday Assad said : "I invite you to explore opportunities for joint ventures and other collaboration in major areas, including infrastructure development, energy production and mineral processing as well as IT education and training opportunities." The interaction was jointly organized by three apex India industry bodies – CII, FICCI and Assocham. Assad is leading a strong business delegation consisting of representatives from manufacturing, food processing, olive oil sectors.

The former director-general of Fertiliser Association of India (FAI), Pratap Narain, who is now the chairman emeritus of Sun International Ltd, said : "it is a good opportunity for Indian industry to enter into joint ventures for production of DAP in Syria. We produced only 2.7 million tonne DAP against our annual needs of 7.5 million tonne. This is because there is no adequate rock phosphate in the country. It would be better if we enter into joint ventures in countries like Syria which have rich deposits of rock phosphates."

China is one of the major exporter of DAP to India and with a view to discourage export of this fertilizer it has recently imposed an export tax of 135%. The global price of DAP is now averaging around $ 1350 a tonne.