Kalam, who arrived in the Iceland capital of Reykjavik Sunday afternoon after visits to Russia and Switzerland, briefed newsmen on board Air-India One, the presidential aircraft carrying his 50-member entourage and a media team.

"We have facilitated intensive cooperation in the fields of politics, trade, business and science and technology," said the president, who began the trip on May 22.

Taking an overall view of the tour so far, the scientist-president said his visit to Russia had focused on the "tough area" of forecasting earthquakes, nano-sciences, mathematical sciences and laser physics.

He said the visit, his first to Europe, would also encourage laboratory-to-laboratory and scientist-to-scientist contact between India and Russia.

Kalam, who has been interacting with a host of scientific institutions and students during his visit, said the energy sector had received special attention during the Russian trip.

"Further areas of cooperation have been identified," he said.

On his five-day visit to Switzerland, during which he got along famously with his Swiss counterpart Samuel Schmid, he said several areas had been identified for cooperation.

Although the Swiss were noncommittal on backing India's bid for a seat on an expanded UN Security Council, Kalam said areas such as the convergence of nano-science, IT and biotechnology had been identified for cooperation.

In both Russia and Switzerland, the president said, one area of concern was the less than satisfactory levels of trade.

Kalam said India hoped to take trade with Russia from the current $3 billion level to $25 billion in a decade or so, while the target with Switzerland is $10 billion in three to five years.