President Patil calls for 'mutually beneficial cooperation' between India, Switzerland

Geneva, Oct 2 (ANI): President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Sunday said that India's growth offers many opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation with Switzerland.

Addressing a reception hosted by the Indian Ambassador to Switzerland, Chitra Narayanan, in Geneva, President Patil said that the Indian economy recorded consistently high rates of growth since 2003 and even the global economic downturn had a limited impact.

"Today, India is among the most attractive destinations globally, for investments and business and foreign direct investment has increased over the last few years. Since the Indian economy opened up in 1991, Indian companies faced international competition rather well, and have expanded their global footprint; some are here in Switzerland," she said.

"This underlines that the benefits of economic engagement with India, flow in both directions. In many cases these Indian companies have helped Swiss companies retain their competitive edge," she added.

President Patil further said that the overriding priority in India today is to ensure that the benefits of India's economic growth should reach all sections of society.

"We are also aware of the challenges of ensuring that the aspirations of our youth, who constitute more than 50 percent of our population today, are met; that they have the opportunities to get education and training needed to allow India to garner the demographic dividend," she said.

President Patil arrived in Switzerland on September 30 for a five-day state visit to enhance bilateral relations. She will stay in Switzerland till October 4 and then travel to Austria for a state visit from October 4 to 7.

The members of the delegation accompanying the President include Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla and Members of Parliament Vijay Jawaharlal Darda, Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav, and Dr. Chinta Mohan.

Senior officials including the Secretary to President Dr. Christy Fernandez and Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, are also a part of the delegation, besides a number of business leaders and members of the media. By Sanjay Mohan (ANI)