Foreign Secy. Nirupama Rao for Going Beyond ‘Boundary Issue’ to ‘Congruence & Cooperation’ FAVOURS FTA WITH ; FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT VITAL TO BOOST TRADE & INVESTMENT TIES: AMBASSADOR ZHANG YAN

NEW DELHI, December 13, 2010. China has expressed the imperative need to deepen relations with India, “without letting the border issue stand in the way”, by starting the process of moving towards a regional Free Trade Agreement along with effective measures to remove trade and investment barriers. “The development of diversified trade, tourism and investment cooperation would be crucial for reducing the trade imbalance (currently in favour of China) and achieving the bilateral target of US 60 billion this year”, Mr. Zhang Yan, Chinese Ambassador to India, declared here today on the eve of the Chinese Premier, Mr. Wen Jiabao’s visit to India beginning Wednesday.

Addressing a meeting on ‘ India China Opportunities and Challenges in the Emerging Global Order’ organized by FICCI, Mr. Yan said that both countries face daunting challenges of development. “But when China and India join hands, they can make a positive impact, not just in their respective countries but on the world at large,” he said, adding that the two countries need to create an environment that is friendly for two-way investment.

In this context, he mentioned that while 10 Indian banks were operating out of China, no Chinese bank was in India. However, he expressed the hope that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank, would be given permission soon to start operations in India.

Mrs. Nirupama Rao, India’s Foreign Secretary, emphasized the need to go beyond the unsettled boundary issue and move towards “congruence and cooperation” in the bilateral relationship in a spirit of “competition and collaboration”.

She said that India was looking at greater investments by China in this country, particularly in the infrastructure sector. “We need greater synergy and dialogue to explore the lessons that we could draw from the Chinese model of infrastructure development for the benefit of the business and engineering community of the countries,” she said.

Mr. Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary of India, in his remarks, pointed out that India and China were large countries and neither could contain the other nor could any other nation contain them in their quest for development and progress. He said the India-China relationship should not be viewed as a “sprint”. In fact, it should be looked at with a longer term perspective as a strategic partnership with the focus on facilitating the resolution of the border issue and other irritants in the two way trade and investment relations.

Dr. S Jaishankar, India’s Ambassador to China, spoke of the empathy in both countries towards each other’s drive towards modernity, the need for greater familiarity and more contacts between the Indians and the Chinese people, the adoption of a long term economic strategy which requires growing cooperation in a more equitable manner, and the urgent need for Indian and Chinese companies to localize their operations to be able to establish a long term relationship. “We interact continuously with both Indian and Chinese companies to solve their problems on the ground. Our doors are open and we want more of you (business persons) to walk through those doors”.

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