labels: economy - general, agriculture, trade
India and China to conduct joint feasibility study for FTAnews
Our Economy Bureau
12 April 2005

New Delhi: China has spelt out a five-point agenda, which envisages reduction in trade barriers and enhancement of multilateral cooperation, in order to boost bilateral trade to the $30 billion level by 2010 and increase investment.

"We have set an objective (in the joint statement) to increase the two-way trade from $13.6 billion at present to $20 billion by 2008 and we plan to take it to $30 billion by 2010,'' the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, said while addressing Indian and Chinese business leaders at the India-China Business Cooperation Conference organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The two countries had also agreed to conduct a joint feasibility study for a bilateral 'free trade agreement', Wen said. To attain a quantum jump in economic and business relations between the two countries, Wen favoured removal of trade barriers and strengthening of cooperation in steel, oil, machinery and other basic industries, high tech industries such as space, maritime, IT, new materials technology and facilitation of trade in goods and services.

The Chinese premier also called for investments in both countries through the setting up of joint ventures and infrastructure development and emphasised the critical need for the two countries to cooperate in multilateral trade fora like the WTO. The two sides have also agreed to work together in energy security and at the multilateral level at the WTO to support an "open, fair, equitable and transparent rule-based multilateral trade system", according to the joint statement signed by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and Wen Jiabao.

The union commerce minister, Kamal Nath, said China was poised to become India's largest trade partner in two-three years, next only to the US and Singapore. "From $1-billion annual trade a few years ago, India-China trade is clocking over $1 billion a month to touch $13.6 billion in 2004-05,'' he said.

Nath suggested change in the composition of the export basket in favour of high value items like drugs and pharmaceuticals and services like IT, tourism and banking. Earlier, Wen said India could increase its investment in China in IT, space technology and science and technology. China could invest in biotechnology, computer hardware and telecom hardware.


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India and China to conduct joint feasibility study for FTA