“The key strengths of our country are leather, textiles and IT, same as West Bengal,” said the ambassador at an interactive session with the CII.

Mendes admitted to the fact that though there were historical ties between the two countries, the bilateral trade has been low. Portugal's exports to India stood at 260. 89 million dollars, while the import was to the tune of 30.25 million dollars in 2005-06.

At present, Indian companies such as Wipro Technologies, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services have offices in Portugal. Portuguese electronics company Efacec has entered into a joint venture with the Godrej Group, providing warehousing, automated storage and retrieval system solutions. A leather company has started footwear production from Chennai, he said.