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Trade with China to touch $30 b

KOLKATA: Going by the present trend, bilateral trade between China and India is likely to touch $40 billion ahead of its targeted schedule in 2010, Mao Siwei consul general, in the Chinese Consulate General in Kolkata said.

Participating in a meeting with the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Siwei, who came here three months ago to set up China’s second consulate in India (the other one is in Mumbai), said that between January and September, bilateral trade between the two countries was $27 billion and it was expected to touch $30 billion by the year-end. Delivering a talk on the cultural factors behind the Chinese economic development, he said a strong sense of national coherence and an absence of complex conflicts between different races, religions and castes were among the seven factors which contributed to the high gross domestic product (GDP) growth. He said the Chinese achievement was “unprecedented in the history of human beings, which the Chinese people should be proud of”.

Drawing from points made by Dr. Chen Ning Yang, an American Nobel Laureate of Chinese origin (who addressed a gathering of Chinese businessmen in Japan), Mr. Mao said traditional Chinese cultures like thrift (resulting in a high savings and therefore a high investment rate), capability to work hard in a patient manner and a strong will-power along with the wiping out of illiteracy by the State and the stability of the society were the cultural factors that had enabled the 1.3 billion population country, maintain a 10 per cent rate of growth annually for more than 20 years.

However, although the world sees China as the engine of the world economy, there were more than 20 million Chinese people still living below the poverty line. China is and will be a developing country for a long time, he said.

Pointing out that currently the biggest problem in China was the widening gap between the rich and the poor and there were various other problems which were related to this, the envoy said that what China was doing was to materialise in 50 years, the economic and social development on which the Western world had spent 300 years.

Mr. Mao said there were plans to open a consulate office in Kolkata, which would be the second one after Mumbai. At present, sites were being checked out for this. He said about 45 Chinese companies have entered the Indian market and many companies were keen to make investments in West Bengal.

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