India, China agree to take steps to address trade imbalance

Targeting $100 billion in bilateral commerce by 2015, India and China today agreed to take steps for addressing the issue of trade imbalance through greater cooperation in areas like pharmaceutical and IT.

A joint statement issued after the meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said: "While striving to realise the trade turnover target of $100 billion by 2015, the two countries agreed to take measures to address the issue of the trade imbalance.

"These include cooperation on pharmaceutical supervision including registration, stronger links between Chinese enterprises and Indian IT industry, and completion of phytosanitary negotiations on agro-products."

While India's export to China were only $13.52 billion in 2012-13, its imports from that country aggregated to $54.3 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $40.78 billion.

The two sides have agreed to strengthen cooperation between their financial regulators and to support banking institutions in setting up representative offices, branches or subsidiaries and carrying out business activities.

They agreed to "promote cooperation between their financial institutions to provide funding for bilateral economic cooperation projects", it added.

Further, India and China expressed willingness to carry out cooperation on establishing industrial zones so as to provide platforms for cluster-type development of enterprises of the two countries.

On the first meeting of the India-China CEO's Forum, the statement said that the Prime Ministers of both the countries look forward to the recommendations of the forum to further enhance bilateral trade and investment.

Considering the rapid changes in the world economic situation, it said the two sides tasked the Strategic Economic Dialogue mechanism to consider issues of macro economic coordination and to suggest possible responses by the two countries.

"The two sides agreed to continue pushing forward the Doha Development Round, consider the potential for a bilateral Regional Trade Arrangement and review the state of negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)," the statement added.

It also said that India welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest here and participate in infrastructure development.

"Project contracting cooperation between the businesses of the two countries would be enhanced," it said.

Both the sides also agreed to further strengthen cooperation in the areas of energy and environmental conservation, new and renewable energy and high-technology.