L’Aquila (Italy), July 8 (Inditop.com) India and Britain Wednesday discussed restructuring of global financial institutions to make them more suited to present-day international needs even as both countries pledged to take bilateral trade to the 10-billion pound mark by 2010.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised the issue of restructuring of global financial institutions with his British counterpart Gordon Brown at their meeting on the sidelines of the G8-G5 summit at Coppito complex of the Guardia da Finanza (Italian financial police) near this earthquake-hit town, about 100 km from Rome.
The meeting lasted 45 minutes. Both leaders met independently and also with their delegations.
Both prime ministers had earlier met in April on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London to discuss the global financial slowdown.
“The global economic situation, restructuring of global financial institutions, climate change, terrorism and bilateral trade were issues discussed between both sides,” an Indian official said.
India and Britain, which are the third largest investors in each other’s country, pledged to take bilateral trade to 10 billion pounds by next year. Presently, bilateral trade stands at 9 bn pounds. Another 4 bn pound is through the service sector.
India also invited Britain to a global conference on climate change to be held in New Delhi October 22-23 this year.
