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NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 1:
 

Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Maud Olofsson and Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran at 'India-Sweden Business Forum' in Chennai today. Ashok Leyland managing director R Seshasayee is also present.

        There would be around 250 million mobile phone users in India by the end of 2007 and the numbers are only going to increase in coming years, Union Minister of Commnications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said today.

        He said this while delivering the inaugural address at the 'India-Sweden Business Forum' jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Swedish Embassy here.

        The Minister said the forum is a sign of friendship between the two countries and pointed out that there should be renewed levels of cooperation between India and Sweden in the future in research and development in the field of Science and Technology.

        Swedish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Energy Maud Olofsson said her government was committed to greater trade relations with India and called for lesser bureaucratic interference in business relations between the two countries for better ties.

        She also said environmental concerns such as the greenhouse effect should not be sacrificed at the altar of development and stressed that an international agreement on the means and measures to combat global climatic change was the need of the hour.

        Olofsson also drove home the point that women should be given ample oppurtunities to become entrepreneurs in the modern global society.

        Ashok Leyland Limited managing director R Seshasayee said India was fast emerging as the international destination for the services sector and added that growth of the Indian economy implied growth of the world economy. Indian companies were known the world over for their corporate values, he noted.