Seven Pakistani companies on Sunday signed memoranda of understanding worth $102 million with two Chhattisgarh-based steel companies.
Six Pakistani companies signed MoU with B K Engineering while another company inked understanding with Raipur Alloys Limited for importing ferro manganese, official sources said here.
The 16-member Pakistani delegation was in Raipur on an invitation from Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.
The MoUs, worth over Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.50 billion) in Indian currency, were signed at the residence of the chief minister in his presence and the delegation, led by chief executive officer of Pakistan Export Development Board Imtiaz Ali Rastagar, sources said.
Speaking after signing the MoUs, Rastagar said their two-day visit to the state was very successful and positive as the main objective of the tour was to outsource from India certain commodities and technologies to fulfill the prevailing demand and supply gap in Pakistan.
Director of the Qadbros Engineering Plc, Rizwan Qadri, while sharing his experience, called on the industrialists of the state to develop steel sector in neighbouring country.
Pakistan would set up some steel plants with Indian technology especially from Chhattisgarh, he said and proposed to set up an iron and steel research institute with the help of Indian consultants.
The function was informed that the annual turnover of the Pakistani steel and sponge iron sector was about four million tonnes which is likely to be doubled within next five years whereas Chhattisgarh produces 8.7 million tonnes of iron and steel every year.
Welcoming the delegation to the state, Raman Singh said political relations between India and Pakistan would automatically be improved if the economic and trade relations between both the nations are strengthened.
The mutual trust would be increased in the same speed in which the trade would be increased among both the nations, Singh said adding, such relations will bring in peace and development among the people from both the sides.
Singh also informed the delegation about the works being carried out by the state in bio-diesel sector and said his government was ready to provide all assistance in that sector to Pakistani industries, sources added.
