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India, China aim for bilateral trade target of US$60b by 2010
By Riva Ganguly Das |
December 16, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WHEN talking of India and China, our minds naturally go back to those early days when in the first millennium of the modern era our two civilizations, our two ways of thought and our different ways of articulating that thought came together in a creative confluence.
The great Buddhist pilgrims, scholars and travelers who traversed the Himalayan passes did not only achieve a mere feat of physical endurance but they also achieved an astonishing feat of cross-cultural and inter-linguistic communication.
Within four to five generations the great works of Buddhist philosophy, mythology and literature were all translated from Pali and Sanskrit to the Chinese language.
Late Prime Minister Narasimha Rao compared the coming together of these two great civilizations to the Greek-Arab encounter in Europe that led to the Renaissance.
In recent times, the visit of Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to China more than 20 years ago marked a new beginning in the relations between our two countries.
Today both India and China view their relationship as one of global and strategic importance to world stability. The Indian market along with that of China is considered as one of the major engines of growth for the global economy.
Global impact
Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, while addressing the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences during his visit to China last year, said: "When countries of the size of China and India, together accounting for 2.5 billion people, begin to unshackle their creative energies, it is bound to impact the whole world."
Both India and China have recovered from the (global economic) crisis very quickly. As per the latest data available, India's economic growth has surged significantly in the third quarter of this year surpassing all expectations.
Gross Domestic Product grew 7.9 percent from a year earlier in July-September period, marking the fastest growth since January-March quarter of 2008.
Our Finance Minister believes that growth will likely top the Ministry's current 7 percent forecast for the fiscal year ending March, 2010.
China, which along with India is helping to pull the global economy out of its worst recession in decades, clocked an impressive 8.9 percent growth during the same quarter.
Trade has been one of the key drivers of the new phase of our cooperation. Our bilateral trade, which was US$3 billion at the turn of the century, is now more than US$4 billion per month. In 2008 China was India's largest trading partner with total trade of US$51.8 billion, an increase of 34 percent year-on-year.
For both India and China the growth in bilateral trade has been more than two times the rate at which their overall trade with the world has grown.
Eastern China alone accounts for one third of this trade. India's trade with eastern China - Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai - in 2008 was US$16.9 billion, registering a growth of 36.87 percent compared with 2007.
In fact the total trade we have with just Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai is equal or more than India's bilateral trade with many countries.
Challenges
However, we face some challenges as far as trade is concerned as our exports are dominated by primary commodities. We are keen to diversify our export basket to China and add more value-added products. Indian machinery has done well both in North America and in Europe and we would like to see entry of more such products into the Chinese market.
We also have a competitive advantage in pharmaceuticals, engineering goods and auto components. We are optimistic about reaching the trade target of US$60 billion by 2010 as agreed to by our leaders during Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to China last year.
(The author is Consul General of India in Shanghai. Shanghai Daily adapted the article from her speech at a forum at China Europe International Business School in Shanghai on December 11.)
The great Buddhist pilgrims, scholars and travelers who traversed the Himalayan passes did not only achieve a mere feat of physical endurance but they also achieved an astonishing feat of cross-cultural and inter-linguistic communication.
Within four to five generations the great works of Buddhist philosophy, mythology and literature were all translated from Pali and Sanskrit to the Chinese language.
Late Prime Minister Narasimha Rao compared the coming together of these two great civilizations to the Greek-Arab encounter in Europe that led to the Renaissance.
In recent times, the visit of Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to China more than 20 years ago marked a new beginning in the relations between our two countries.
Today both India and China view their relationship as one of global and strategic importance to world stability. The Indian market along with that of China is considered as one of the major engines of growth for the global economy.
Global impact
Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, while addressing the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences during his visit to China last year, said: "When countries of the size of China and India, together accounting for 2.5 billion people, begin to unshackle their creative energies, it is bound to impact the whole world."
Both India and China have recovered from the (global economic) crisis very quickly. As per the latest data available, India's economic growth has surged significantly in the third quarter of this year surpassing all expectations.
Gross Domestic Product grew 7.9 percent from a year earlier in July-September period, marking the fastest growth since January-March quarter of 2008.
Our Finance Minister believes that growth will likely top the Ministry's current 7 percent forecast for the fiscal year ending March, 2010.
China, which along with India is helping to pull the global economy out of its worst recession in decades, clocked an impressive 8.9 percent growth during the same quarter.
Trade has been one of the key drivers of the new phase of our cooperation. Our bilateral trade, which was US$3 billion at the turn of the century, is now more than US$4 billion per month. In 2008 China was India's largest trading partner with total trade of US$51.8 billion, an increase of 34 percent year-on-year.
For both India and China the growth in bilateral trade has been more than two times the rate at which their overall trade with the world has grown.
Eastern China alone accounts for one third of this trade. India's trade with eastern China - Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai - in 2008 was US$16.9 billion, registering a growth of 36.87 percent compared with 2007.
In fact the total trade we have with just Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai is equal or more than India's bilateral trade with many countries.
Challenges
However, we face some challenges as far as trade is concerned as our exports are dominated by primary commodities. We are keen to diversify our export basket to China and add more value-added products. Indian machinery has done well both in North America and in Europe and we would like to see entry of more such products into the Chinese market.
We also have a competitive advantage in pharmaceuticals, engineering goods and auto components. We are optimistic about reaching the trade target of US$60 billion by 2010 as agreed to by our leaders during Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to China last year.
(The author is Consul General of India in Shanghai. Shanghai Daily adapted the article from her speech at a forum at China Europe International Business School in Shanghai on December 11.)
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