This was decided at the 13th meeting of the joint commission on economic, technical and scientific cooperation. The meeting was held in Bucharest on December 15 and 16.

Commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde, who was leading the Indian delegation was accompanied by additional secretary in the commerce ministry Nripendra Misra.

In his meeting with the Romanian finance minister Hegde gave an overview of the Indian liberalisation programme and how both the countries had many complimentaries in these programmes.

Hegde pointed out that the current high tariff structure of Romania was affecting Indian exports to this country and emphasised the need to boost the somewhat sluggish trade between the two nations.

The Romanian minister assured that he would look into the tariff structure for such modifications as would help boost the two-waytrade as well as examine ways of utilising the line of credit offered by India.

He also informed that the bilateral investment protection agreement treaty signed in 1997 had not been passed by the Romanian Parliament.

In his meeting with the Romanian foreign minister, Hegde explained India's position regarding the nuclear tests and underlined that India had never been an aggressor and that she believed in utilisation of nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

The minister also pointed out that the attitude of certain countries in practising nuclear apartheid would hurt the interests of other countries willing to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

The Romanian foreign minister noted India's concerns and recalled the traditional ties that existed between the two countries and agreed there was much to be gained by enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries. He outlined Romania's plans to open two offices of consulate generals in India which would help this process.

Duringdiscussions with the Romanian health minister, Hedge emphasised the expertise the Indian pharmaceutical industry had in formulations, intermediates and bulk drugs and pointed to the strength of Indian industry as a producer of world class drugs and medicines at inexpensive rates.

Further, the line of credit of $10 million for this purpose could be utilised by Romania, it was pointed out.Both sides agreed to fully utilise the strengths of the Indian pharmaceutical industry and on the issue of registration of Indian pharmaceutical products, the Romanian minister assured that he would look into the problems expeditiously.