India's pavilion at China expo showcases key sectors

India's pavilion at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai on Monday showcased key areas like pharmaceuticals, IT, and tourism and services, to enable the country to gain market access in China as part of New Delhi's efforts to bridge the large trade deficit with Beijing.

The CIIE was inaugurated by President Xi Jinping on Monday and is expected to attract a large number of Chinese importers.

Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan visited and inaugurated the India country pavilion.

Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan had invited India to participate in the event, an Indian Embassy press release said.

The commerce ministry in consultation with the embassy in Beijing decided to showcase areas where India has proven strength with significant global presence, and has good prospects for further market access in China, the release said.

India's country pavilion has focused on sectors such as food and agro products, pharmaceuticals, IT and IT-enabled services (ITES), and tourism and services sector, it said.

These four areas represent a very minuscule Indian presence in China, contrary to India's strength and overall global presence, it said.

China is India's largest trading partner with total trade expected to hit the USD 100 billion mark in the near future. Both countries have expressed a resolve to address India's concerns regarding the large trade deficit with China, the release said.

The Indian government is consistently making sincere efforts to promote India's exports to China, it said.

This has been achieved through various bilateral meetings at the government level and continuous engagement of Indian businessmen with China, it said.

Recently, the Indian mission in Beijing and consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou had organised a series of business promotion and buyer-seller meets covering products like sugar, tea, rice, oil meals, pharmaceuticals which received encouraging participation from Chinese importers, it said.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) is the lead agency for the India country pavilion in CIIE along with other stakeholders like tourism ministry, NAFED, Pharmexcil, Electronics and Software Export Promotion Council and others to showcase India's strength in these diverse areas.

The consulate general of India in Shanghai has also extended all local support for the event, it said.