New Delhi: India and Germany have resolved to enhance their annual bilateral trade to $10 billion in the medium-term from the current level of $5.4 billion achieved in 2003-04.

This bilateral trade target was communicated by commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath to a high-level business delegation led by Dr Ditmar Staffelt, parliament state secretary of the German Federation of the ministry of economy and labour, called on him yesterday.

Kamal Nath said that the Indian government would play an enabling and facilitating role to help businesses on both sides take advantage of the liberalised trade and investment regime.

He also said that India has a unique advantage in services sector in terms of a very large pool of skilled human resources. This combined with Germany''s technological skills could give a major push to bilateral ties, Kamal Nath said.

The commerce minister had detailed interaction with Staffelt and his team which represents a wide cross-section of German business enterprises in areas such as media, aviation, consultancy, insurance, food processing, hydro-power plants, textile and agricultural machinery.

The German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, said that India was now at the top of the agenda for German companies and assured Indian industry that Germany would invest in India, while addressing a session organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday.

He pointed out the entertainment industry and the infrastructure sector as potential areas, where German companies would be keen to invest.

The Chancellor, who is accompanied by a 22-member business delegation, said a large contingent of Germany''s small and medium enterprises, or `Mittelstand,'' would visit India early next year to explore investment opportunities, according to a CII statement.

He said the German Mittelstand, a backbone for his country accounting for 70 per cent of jobs, would be a fair partner to India and not only seek to sell its products, but also bring state-of-the-art technology. Schroeder also said that it was time India and Germany aimed at a $10-billion trade figure, given the synergy and potential that existed between the two nations.