PM to visit Belgium and Germany to expand strategic partnership

• Prime Minister leaves on a two nation tour of Belgium and Germany tomorrow. Dr. Manmohan Singh will participate in India-EU Summit in the Belgian capital Brussels on Friday.
•  Firming up of strategic partnership between India and the EU which is basically an economic bloc of 27 countries, will be high on the agenda. Apart from bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual concern, the ongoing negotiations to finalise a Broad-Based Trade and Investment Agreement are expected to dominate the summit talks.
• New Delhi is hopeful that the pact will come through by March next year. Once signed, the treaty will boost the bilateral trade of goods and services by about 40 per cent to touch 100 billion Euros. An India-EU Business Summit will also take place on the margins which is likely to be attended by over 250 participants.
• Dr. Manmohan Singh will also hold bilateral meetings with the Belgian leadership to discuss the potential for diversification in the fields of trade, transport, steel, bio-technology and aeronautics. In the second leg of his two nation tour, the Prime Minister will visit Germany to hold a summit meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday.