India, China aim for $40 bn trade

New Delhi, November 21: India and China will work to raise their bilateral trade to $40 billion by 2010, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday after talks with visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The Asian giants are keen to develop a relationship dogged by mistrust since a brutal border war of 1962 and still overshadowed by disputes over their frontier but which is now marked by burgeoning two-way trade as they liberalise their economies.
Bilateral trade has climbed from just $260 million in 1990 to a projected $20 billion in 2006/07, and is expected to continue growing. But there are still concerns on both sides.
India fears that opening its doors even wider to low-cost Chinese manufacturers would undermine its own industries, and wants Beijing to be more transparent about hidden subsidies.

Chinese firms have complained that potential investment in India in areas such as ports and telecommunications has been blocked by Indian officials who cite national security concerns, denying Chinese firms big business deals in the public sector.
New Delhi is also accused of making it tough for Chinese business officials to get visas, and not being responsive to a free-trade agreement proposal.
India has repeatedly denied that it discriminates against Chinese companies.
Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday that New Delhi was seeking comprehensive economic cooperation with China but a free-trade agreement with Beijing was not on the cards.
He said India was not in the habit of discriminating against individual countries when it came to foreign investment and welcomed more Chinese money.

Source : Express India