From CK Nayak
Geneva: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Friday arrived in this picturesque city on a two-nation visit to Switzerland and Austria during which she will hold a series of bilateral talks including the controversial black money issue besides unveiling the bust of Tagore and paying homage to Gandhiji.
All issues — bilateral, regional and international will be discussed with the leaders of the two countries, she told the accompanying media on board special flight Air India One. Clad in a light green sari, the President said that India has already signed avoidance of double taxation agreement with Switzerland.
There are allegations that vast amount of black money is parked in Swiss banks and there is a demand by the political parties and civil society groups to bring back the same to the country. The President who normally avoids controversial comments did not hesitate to speak on this burning subject.
India and Switzerland have growing economic relationship mostly in high technology sectors and several Swiss companies have invested in India.
The President is also accompanied by a 45-member business delegation with several captains of industries as members drawn from all major chambers of commerce.
“Today, economic and commercial cooperation have emerged as the core of the India-Switzerland relationship and between 2006 and 2010, two-way trade has risen by approximately 36 per cent and touched US$ 3.7 billion,” Patil said on board her flight.
Switzerland has emerged as one of the top investors in India as also a source of advanced technology in diverse fields such as engineering, precision instruments, textile production, she added.
“We would like to see more Swiss firms using India as a manufacturing base for exports to third countries as well as an R&D centre and there is also an excellent potential for harnessing Swiss technologies to meet our developmental needs in areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and vocational education,” she said.