FICCI for diversifying India-China trade
Pti, Beijing
A high-level delegation of CEOs from Indian trade representative body FICCI is here to open up a track II diplomacy to help to diversify India's export basket to China and identify niche areas, crucial for the sustainable long-term growth of bilateral trade which touched a record USD 18.7 billion last year."The broad intent of the visit is to open up a second track diplomacy that would enable India to diversify its exports to China as well as to find the niche areas... at a time when China is opening up more to the outside world," Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Amit Mitra said. The delegation, led by FICCI President Saroj Kumar Poddar, arrived here Sunday and will have bilateral meetings with its Chinese counterpart, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) today on how to sustain the impressive growth in India-China trade and identify new areas of cooperation in the manufacturing sector, Mitra told Indian journalists here. India-China bilateral trade has shown remarkable growth in recent years and according to Chinese customs statistics, two-way trade during January-December last year surged to USD 18.7 billion, up 38 percent over that of 2004. The average monthly trade during 2005 was in excess of USD 1.5 billion and if the high growth could be sustained, India-China bilateral trade could soon overtake Indo-US trade, which is hovering around USD 30 billion.
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