— PHOTO: AP

APPLAUDING THE INITIATIVE: Chinese President Hu Jintao, second from right, shakes hands with Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath as senior member of the Chinese Communist Party Wang Gang, left, and FICCI president Saroj Poddar applaud at a trade summit in Mumbai on Thursday. An agreement to double bilateral trade by 2010 was reached in New Delhi after the summit.

MUMBAI: In a bid to deepen and widen economic cooperation and trade between China and India, Chinese President Hu Jintao proposed five steps to achieve a `win-win' progress. These include expanding and upgrading bilateral trade, strengthening cooperation in key areas, improving trade and investment environment, strengthening cooperation in multilateral fields and with third countries and actively exploring trade liberalisation.

Addressing the Indo-China Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation Summit, jointly organised by the industry chambers, FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM here on Thursday , Mr. Hu said India-China trade took up a mere 7.8 per cent and 1.3 per cent of the countries' respective overall trade. "This is incompatible with the size of our economies, but it also means there is great potential to be tapped," he said.

$40 billion by 2010

Having set a goal of reaching $40 billion of bilateral trade by 2010, the Chinese President proposed working to improve trade structure, increasing technology content in commodities and adding value to them as also increasing the share of new and hi-tech products and electromechanical products. "In areas where conditions are ripe, we should promote border trade to widen bilateral trading channels," he said.

This year, bilateral trade is expected to exceed $ 20 billion; well ahead of the schedule of 2008 set by the two countries.

The two countries' strength in information technology, energy resources, infrastructure, science and technology and agriculture was mutually complementary, offering potential for cooperation. "We should explore business opportunities in these fields and nurture new growth stimulus to boost business ties. The Chinese Government will continue to encourage competitive Chinese companies to make investment and do business in India and Indian companies are welcome to explore business opportunities in China,'' said Mr. Hu.

"Mutual investment is growing"

Indicating that co-operation in project contracting had made important headway, he said that by June 2006, China had signed economic and technical contracts worth $ 6.1 billion with India with business volumes reaching $ 1.3 billion. "India is now one of China's most important project contracting markets and mutual investment is growing," he said.

The two Governments should take measures to remove obstacles to trade and investment and create an enabling business environment and importantly, Mr. Hu proposed strengthening coordination in the World Trade Organisation and other multilateral economic organisations to jointly "uphold the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries."

China being an observer to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Mr. Hu hoped both countries would use the platform to explore cooperation opportunities.

Easily achievable

Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said that the target of $40 billion was not only possible, but also easily achievable given the complementarities. "We must not only add mass, but also the number of items in the trade basket must go up," he said. President of FICCI, S.K. Poddar, said Indian business had set an ambitious goal of bilateral trade between India and China reaching $75 billion in five years.

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