NEW DELHI (IRNA) -- Indian industries and the 15-nation European Union converged here Friday for the two-day Fourth India-EU Business Summit and discussed sector specific issues to enlarge trade flows between the two sides to achieve a target of euro 35 billion by 2005. The EU side represented by EC External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, in his address said that "excessive red tape, poor infrastructure and rigid labor laws are the constraints most commonly cited by the EU business" while contending that though Indian import tariffs have substantially decreased following the economic reforms program, "they are still high by international standards."

Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha while addressing the meet asked European businessmen to shed their old image of India and said, things have changed here and it is now opening bright prospects for a partnership with a new India. Sinha said: "We are looking at partnership between a new Europe and a new India while observing that New Delhi looked at EU not merely as a group of nations but as one of the largest markets of the world."

A large number of EU CEOs are participating in the Business Summit. The opening Session was held at Hotel Taj Palace. There will be parallel sectoral sessions in tourism, manufacturing, chemicals & pharmaceuticals, food processing and IT, with an aim to build synergistic relationships between Indian and EU industry.