Taiwan said on Friday it is looking at the possibility of a Free Trade Agreement with India as part of initiatives to increase bilateral trade to $10 billion in the next few years from $2.4 billion in 2004.

"We are in discussions with the Indian government for an FTA. We hope to increase trade with the country to about $10 billion in the next few years," Taiwan's administrative vice minister Shin Yen-Shiang said at a FICCI seminar in New Delhi. Taiwan has already signed an investment protection agreement with India for better economic partnership, he said.

The country has invested around $17 million in India, which is about one per cent of their entire investment of $10 billion around the world, he said.

Taiwanese companies were interested in increasing investments in electronics, information technology, auto parts, masonry and construction, textiles, pharma, electrical appliances, food processing and aquaculture, he said.

Yen-Shiang is in India with a team comprising 100 delegates to gauge the trade potential, investment options, and to understand the process of aquaculture in India.

Speaking on the occasion, department of industrial policy and promotion secretary Ajay Dua invited Taiwanese companies to invest in India, particularly in manufacturing sectors.

Yen-Shiang invited Indian investors in high technology and automobiles and said Indian companies would be entitled to tax exemptions offered to other countries.

The two countries could look into the possibility of increasing direct flights for better connectivity, he said, adding that this would increase the number of tourists from Taiwan to India.

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