A consortium of Italian firms plans to build a 900-million-euro (1.17-billion-dollar) high-tech food processing park in India, an Italian minister said Wednesday. Gianfranco Alois, trade and industry minister of Italy's Campania region, told AFP that the Consortium Sistema Italia Exports (CSIE), was planning to build a food processing park spread over 1,200 acres (486 hectares). "Financial details are still being worked out but funding of 900 million euros should not be an issue. There's keen Italian interest in the project," said Alois.

The firms are negotiating with various state governments for land.

IItalian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, on a three-day state visit due to wind up later Wednesday, was accompanied by four ministers and a large business delegation including the chiefs of about 40 companies, whose aggregate turnover exceeds 100 billion dollars. Ciampi's visit to India was the first by an Italian president in a decade.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005