India and China have resumed their bilateral strategic dialogue after three years, but trade appeared to take centre stage in it.
India’s new Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh stressed the need to bridge the widening trade deficit between the two countries, as the dialogue moved into substantive issues on Wednesday.
It had formally started on Tuesday.
The two sides also discussed the recent military incursions and ways to maintain peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control ( LAC).
During the fifth round of India-China Strategic Dialogue, which resumed after nearly three years, the two sides discussed key bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest including ways to reduce trade deficit and trans-border rivers.
India is worried over China’s hydel projects in the upper reaches of Brahmaputra river in Tibet, where it is called Tasng-po.
The Indian side was led by Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and the Chinese was represented by Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin. Discussions targeted on how to reduce the trade deficit with possibilities of exploring the following:
* Reduction in duty of the cotton fabrics being imported into China from the current 10% to 5% (This has immense potential of enhancing the cotton fabric exports by India from the current $700 million to $6 billion in the near term of three-five years.
* During the visit of Premier Le Keqiang, an MoU was signed on buffalo meat and fishery products. It was impressed on the Chinese side to initiate early implementation of this MoU as their exports from India could enhance to the tune of $1 billion.
*There was discussion on Chinese investment in India relating to industrial parks. Currently, the two sides are working on an MOU with the goal of early conclusion of this so as to facilitate enhanced Chinese investment in India.
*While China is exporting large number of power equipment, the need for setting up service centres in India for servicing this equipment was discussed.
India and China are close to signing a Border Defence Cooperation Agreement and some of the issues that need to be ironed out in that agreement will also be discussed in the strategic dialogue.
The agreement seeks to create a fresh framework for maintaining peace and tranquillity on the 4000-kms long Himalayan border, where recent incursions by the two armies across the Line of Actual Control caused much tension this summer.
The agreement will be signed when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits China in late October, after his US visit in September.
Source: Bd news24
