India for cooperation with China in infrastructure areas

Aiming to return to 7-8 per cent growth rate, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India and China should forge cooperation in eight critical areas like infrastructure, energy, manufacturing and agriculture to negate the effect of prolonged global economic crisis.
Addressing future leaders at the Chinese Communist Party's Central Party School, Singh said underlying fundamental of Indian economy, particularly investment and saving rates, are strong and can help get the nation get back to 7-8 per cent per annum economic growth rate.
"The prolonged global economic crisis has affected us, as it has many other emerging economies. I believe, however, that this is a temporary disruption.

"In recent months, we have taken measures to enhance foreign investment flows, speed up implementation of major projects, boost infrastructure development, strengthen our financial markets, reform our tax system and make our business environment more attractive," he said.
India's critical challenges, he said, are areas where opportunities for cooperation between the two nations exist.
Singh highlighted eight specific areas for cooperation between India and China -- infrastructure, agriculture productivity, manufacturing, energy, food security, climate change, open trade and stable global order.

"After China, India has been the fastest growing major economy in the world, averaging a growth rate of 7 per cent per year over the past two decades and around 8 per cent per year during the past ten years," he said.

"In our own ways, we have also had an impact in shaping the global economy - China in the manufacturing sector and India in the services sector," he said.
India's reliance on China over the past decade has increased with two-way trade growing to USD 66 billion last year, accounting for about 8.3 per cent of the country's total commerce, up from about 4.9 per cent a decade ago.
Its trade deficit with China increased to USD 39 billion last year, the biggest gap with any of its trading partners.