China Acts by welcoming More Indian Goods

The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao gave assurance to the visiting Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma that his country would do everything to iron out trade imbalances with India. New Delhi had been complaining about the trade deficit for the past few years as its largest trading partner’s exports recorded lopsided growth after years of bilateral trade.

Sharma who was in China to attend the eighth Joint Economic Group dialogue urged the host country to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers on import of Indian rice, fruits and vegetables. He also requested to facilitate landing rights for Indian TV channels in China, and the import of more Indian films.

Sharma informed that New Delhi had doubled its foreign workers visa quota to 40, a decision that likely to help more Chinese firms than any other. However, the number of immigrant workers is still not allowed to exceed more than one percent of the total number of workers employed in any project. While China’s Commerce Minister Chen Demin reciprocated by saying that Indian workers would also get visas on liberal basis.

During the meet, Wen showed keen interest in improving bilateral ties with India and said that only if India and China shared common development platform that they could translate this century into an Asian one. Similarly, Sharma said the time for exclusivity in the international governance structure was over; and both nations would have to be at the front of a new global governance architecture.

After meeting several Chinese leaders, Sharma claimed the meet was very positive and substantive as it covered every component of the bilateral ties. He said that he received assurance from Beijing to encourage the Indian firms in the information technology, pharmaceutical and construction sectors to work with local partners to have 'more presence and access' in China.

In 2008–09, China exports to India stood at about $27bn while India’s remained around $11bn. China and India plan to take advantage of its vast consumer base of about 2.5bn people which could be larger than any bloc or region excluded of these two nations.

By Jose Roy