New Delhi, Oct 13 : Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath today said that that achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will acquire key importance in the overall framework of economic cooperation.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the 3rd India-Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) Business summit here, Nath said, India, Brazil and South Africa need to fight against underdevelopment, hunger and poverty in the Southern sphere.

Of course, for achieving the MDGs, we need to resort to additional and innovative sources of financing for development."

He said that the three governments have already covered considerable ground in furthering the unique trilateral economic partnership and IBSA dialogue forum has become a definitive medium for political consultation and sectoral cooperation between the three countries.

He highlighted that today''s summit is a significant opportunity to reinforce and intensify their trilateral trade and investment relations, without diluting the intensity of broad-level South-South Cooperation.

"While trilateral trade and investment relations form the core of the IBSA activities, the three partners are well aware of their key responsibilities towards the developing countries. Their joint leadership comes to the fore when all three partners zealously safeguard the interests of the developing countries at the WTO talks", he said.

He highlighted the huge opportunities that exist in the field of infrastructure, mining, Information technology, pharma and healthcare, transport, agri-business, skills development, energy including power, bio-fuels, oil and gas.

He further said that the intra-IBSA trade today stands at more than ten billion dollars and added that the target of 15 billion dollars set by the three leaders will be reached by 2010. (ANI)