india, italy plan to double trade in next two years

Italian and Indian companies have signed a series of agreements which are intended to lead to a doubling of trade, from $5 to $10 billion, by 2009. The agreements are an outgrowth of a recent visit by Italian Premier Romano Prodi to Mumbai at the head of a large trade delegation. A deal between Fiat and India's Tata Motors to produce pick-up trucks in Argentina was among the larger new deals. Clothing, luxury goods, and banking/finance are other areas of cooperation. There is no indication whether Prodi met Sonia Gandhi and, if he did, whether they spoke Italian (she was born near Torino and is reported to speak Hindi with a slight Italian lilt).