The Hindu : Austria, potential gateway to EU for investors

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 08, 2002

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Austria, potential gateway to EU for investors

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 7. Austria has the potential to become the gateway for Indian investors to the European Union (EU), the Federal Minister of Finance, Austria, Karl Heinz Grasser, said today.

Addressing a meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on "EU at the beginning of the 21st Century'', he said a stable economic environment, tradition of strong fiscal discipline, low incidence of strike, well trained and educated work force, liberalised energy and telecom services, well developed transport network, low corporate tax rate of 34 per cent and tax allowance on R&D and HRD of 25 and 20 per cent respectively were some of the advantages that Austria offered. Further, in recent years, Austria has also emerged as the economic centre of Europe.

The Austrian Ambassador, Herbert Traxi, said that there was enormous potential for strengthening economic ties between the two countries and for it the two countries needed to focus on certain key areas.

The CII past president and chairman of CII International, Arun Bharat Ram, observed that uncertainties on the performance of the global economy still persisted. The growth of the Indian economy at 5.4 per cent rate in the previous fiscal year was commendable. India needed to grow at least at 7 per cent to overcome poverty and its integration with the global economy, particularly with EU, was one of the top priorities on India's agenda, he added.

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