The Hindu : National : We talked about India's economic reforms: Shinde

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Saturday, Apr 09, 2005

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We talked about India's economic reforms: Shinde

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 8. "I remember we talked about India's economic reforms," the Andhra Pradesh Governor, Sushil Kumar Shinde, told The Hindu on Friday while recalling his meeting with Wen Jiabao, then alternative member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of China, and now the Premier of China .

Mr. Wen, as has been reported, is scheduled to arrive in India on Saturday on a four-day visit during which he will hold detailed discussions with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on a wide range of issues. This will be his second visit to the country.

Mr. Shinde, who was on a tour of rural Andhra Pradesh, immediately remembered meeting Mr. Wen in January 1994 at the residence of the then Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, on 7, Race Course Road, when this correspondent raised the issue with him over the telephone.

"I remember that Prime Minister Rao had invited the Chinese delegation for breakfast and all of us were sitting in his lawn," Mr. Shinde, who was General Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee at the time, recalled.

The Andhra Governor and former Maharashtra Chief Minister said that Mr. Wen was appreciative of the economic reforms undertaken by India in the early 1990s and had discussed these issues during the breakfast meeting.

Yet to start

"We also spoke about re-opening the Nathu La pass in Sikkim for trade. It was discussed in general terms," Mr. Shinde said about the interaction. What was discussed "generally" was signed into a formal agreement on border trade between India and China in June 2003 in Beijing. Actual trade, however, is still to start.

Mr. Wen, who arrives in Bangalore on Saturday evening, will visit the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) office on Sunday, official sources said.

The Chinese Premier will arrive in the capital on Sunday evening and the External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, will call on him.

Mr. Wen will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday morning, following which he will lay a wreath at Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi in Rajghat. He will then call on the Vice-President, B.S. Shekhawat.

Talks with the Prime Minister and the signing of agreements are scheduled to commence shortly before noon on Monday. In the evening, Mr. Wen will call on the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and meet the Leader of the Opposition, L.K. Advani. On Tuesday (April 12) morning, the Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, Sonia Gandhi, will call on Mr. Wen.

The Chinese Premier, before leaving for Beijing on the same day, will deliver a speech at the Indian Institute of Technology in the capital.

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