“I am sure the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor will add to maritime security and reduce reliance on few routes that can become detrimental to maritime security and add faster and lower cost connectivity,” Goyal said at the India Mediterranean Business Conclave 2024 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Suggesting to setup a working group on tourism with the Mediterranean countries, he said that a collaboration between the countries of the Mediterranean region and India could provide a win-win situation for both.
Make-in-India initiatives, digitisation and innovation and tourism are the key drivers of growth for India, Goyal said, adding the country has a huge aspirational population with an average age of 28.4 years.
“We offer a large market for Mediterranean goods… renewable energy, manufacturing, maritime, pharma, agriculture all of these have huge potential. In shipping, we can develop common interest, ship building, ownership and cruises,” Goyal said.
India aims to develop sustainably and that’s an area where solar and other forms of renewable energy can also be transmitted from India to the Mediterranean through interconnected grids as part of the One Sun, One World, One Grid programme.“Our foreign direct investment (FDI) continues to be at elevated levels for several years now. We are targeting to become a much more attractive destination for FDI,” Goyal said at the CII event.