In his meeting on Thursday with South African Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, on the margins of the India Calling Conference at Johannesburg, minister of state for industry, Mr Aswani Kumar, urged for an early finalisation of the PTA with South Africa.

Kumar also held discussions with Mr Mandisi Mpahlwa, minister of trade and industry and with Mr Essop Pahad, minister in the President's Office. Mr Mphlwa assured that the agreement could be concluded soon, possibly before the expected visit of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to South Africa in October this year. Considering the target of trebling Indo-South African trade by 2010 to $12 billion, the PTA between the two countries would be a major step forward.

Pahad informed that the India-South Africa CEOs forum would meet in Mumbai on 16 August and that more and more South African companies were looking to participate in the development of infrastructure in India.

Mr Kumar invited South African companies to invest in India and hoped that Indian companies would also have an opportunity to participate in the development of infrastructure for the FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010.

Meanwhile, in his address at the India Calling Conference at Johannesburg Thursday, Kumar underlined the crucial role that India and South Africa would play in defining the new global order as they addressed the challenges of economic growth and social justice within the context of heterogeneous societies and pluralistic, multiparty democracies.

Describing India's ambitious plans to develop its infrastructure, the minister urged the assembled South African captains of trade and industry to invest in this country and become partners in its economic growth.