New
Delhi: China has spelt out a five-point agenda, which envisages reduction
in trade barriers and enhancement of multilateral cooperation, in order to
boost bilateral trade to the $30 billion level by 2010 and increase investment.
"We
have set an objective (in the joint statement) to increase the two-way trade
from $13.6 billion at present to $20 billion by 2008 and we plan to take it
to $30 billion by 2010,'' the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, said while addressing
Indian and Chinese business leaders at the India-China Business Cooperation
Conference organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI), the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade
(CCPIT) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The
two countries had also agreed to conduct a joint feasibility study for a bilateral
'free trade agreement', Wen said. To attain a quantum jump in economic and
business relations between the two countries, Wen favoured removal of trade
barriers and strengthening of cooperation in steel, oil, machinery and other
basic industries, high tech industries such as space, maritime, IT, new materials
technology and facilitation of trade in goods and services. The
Chinese premier also called for investments in both countries through the
setting up of joint ventures and infrastructure development and emphasised
the critical need for the two countries to cooperate in multilateral trade
fora like the WTO. The two sides have also agreed to work together in energy
security and at the multilateral level at the WTO to support an "open,
fair, equitable and transparent rule-based multilateral trade system",
according to the joint statement signed by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh,
and Wen Jiabao. The
union commerce minister, Kamal Nath, said China was poised to become India's
largest trade partner in two-three years, next only to the US and Singapore.
"From $1-billion annual trade a few years ago, India-China trade is clocking
over $1 billion a month to touch $13.6 billion in 2004-05,'' he said. Nath
suggested change in the composition of the export basket in favour of high
value items like drugs and pharmaceuticals and services like IT, tourism and
banking. Earlier, Wen said India could
increase its investment in China in IT, space technology and science and technology.
China could invest in biotechnology, computer hardware and telecom hardware.
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