Chennai:
The bilateral trade between China and India, the 7th and
10th largest economies respectively, can exceed the $50-billion
mark by 2010 from the current $15 billion.
Delivering
the keynote address at the 'conference on China: An India
opportunity' organised by the Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII) in Chennai on August 5, 2005, Wang Jinzhen,
assistant chairman, China Council for the Promotion of
International Trade said, "India has now become one
of the top ten trading partners of China with Sino-Indian
bilateral trade registering impressive growth since 2003
following the agreements signed during the visits of high-level
political and business delegations of both the countries."
According
to him, the bilateral economic and trade cooperation though
having developed at a rapid pace, is too small comparing
our two economies. Both the countries need to look at
further expanding the bilateral trade by way of establishing
China-India free trade agreement (FTA). He also sought
more
industrial cooperation in the areas of IT, energy, software,
service, machinery and equipment for sustaining the momentum
of bilateral trade growth.
Jinzhen
also pointed out that China is ambitious in investing
in other countries. He said China had invested, , in over
7000 overseas projects so far in non-financial sectors
with the total investment amounting to US$ 36.8 billion.
Liang
Hong, executive director, chief China economist, Goldman
Sachs (Asia) L L C said that China's per capital income
in the coastal areas, where around 200 million people
live, is around $4,000 as compared to the country's average
per capita income of $1000, representing a big market.
She said that the consumers are moving up the consumption
ladder with their expenditure with respect to recreation,
education and culture, housing, transportation, medicine
and medical services is on the rise since 1992.
Talking
about the China's IT services landscape, Talasila Rao,
head, iGate, China, said that contrary to the popular
perception, China would start appearing on the radar screen
as a credible player in the outsourcing market by 2007.
He said with the large base of domestic industry, which
is keen on computerisation, the growing presence of multinationals,
the market for IT products and services are rapidly increasing.
He
also said that Indian IT industry could make use of China
to address the IT needs of the multinational corporations
present there and tap the Japanese market opportunities
with a Chinese base.
Earlier
delivering the theme address, Parasu Raman R, chairman,
CII (southern region) said that India's economic engagement
with China has been recently renewed and has led to a
rise in trade over the last decade. He said that in order
to accelerate the trade between both the countries, it
is imperative for both the nations to expand their trade
baskets and find newer and value added areas of economic
cooperation.
The
chairman, CII-Tamil Nadu B Santhanam, pointed out the
successfulChinese strategies of Tamil Nadu-based industries
in automobile and pharmaceuticals. He said that the bilateral
trade between Tamil Nadu and China alone could touch $10
billion by 2010.
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