Shanghai, May 31 (IANS) India and China need to develop models of economic cooperation which will take into account each other’s concerns, President Pratibha Patil said here Monday.
On the last day of her six-day state visit, she spoke to a group of Indian and Chinese businessmen at the India-China business forum and urged them to further boost ties between the two Asian giants.
‘For a long-term partnership, it is important that we develop models of cooperation that take into account the concerns of both parties. I am sure that this will happen even as our economic relationship unfolds,’ Patil said.
She pointed out that the ‘impact’ of the cooperation will ‘be felt around the world’.
‘It is a relationship that has the potential to become one of the biggest economic and business relationships of the century,’ said India’s first woman president.
Reminding that India-China bilateral trade has increased exponentially from $3 billion in 2000 to $52 billion in 2008, Patil said that there was every likelihood that trade volume will achieve the target of $60 billion this year.
At the same time, she said that there was a lot of scope and space left for opportunities.
Patil especially pointed out that India’s export basket was not ‘representative of India’s competence in a number of areas’, stating that its pharmaceuticals, engineering and IT products have ‘limited presence in the Chinese domestic market’.
The Indian government had plans to increase market awareness of Indian products in China in four thrust areas – information technology, pharmaceuticals, engineering and agro-products.
She commended Indian entrepreneurs who have been successful in China’s competitive market.
‘We need more success stories to encourage Indian industry to participate in the China markets,’ said Patil.
She also asserted that economic potential will only be realised, if business, financial and economic institutions of both countries develop sufficient awareness levels of each other.
Patil urged Chinese companies to come to the subcontinent and noted that infrastructure modernisation in India held ‘significant opportunities’.
‘To representatives of Chinese businesses who are present here today, my message is that India stands ready to do more business. We welcome investment by Chinese companies in India,’ she said.
President Patil is also scheduled to go to the Jade Buddha temple, where she will light incense sticks and make flower offerings.
She will leave Monday afternoon for India, arriving in Delhi at about 4.30 p.m.
