Friday, February 25 2005 11:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has lauded India's efforts, including its industry, in helping rebuild his war-ravaged country and invited further participation from Indian business sector in areas like education, healthcare, construction and financial services.

"I am happy to note that we have a number of Indian companies now working in Afghanistan. I am also happy that the Government of India, together with your efforts, are doing work for the benefit of the Afghan people in vast areas like education, health, road building...," Karzai said at a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI)- Confederation Of India Industry (CII) business meet last night (Feb 24, 2005).

Inviting more investments into the country, the Afghan President, who is on a three day visit said, "Investment opportunities are much better, infrastructure is much better... we have laws for easing and improving business environment in Afghanistan."

Expressing dissatisfaction over the bilateral trade figure of $ 180 million, Karzai said it was "miserably low" and called for initiatives from the industry to raise it to $ 2 billion.