Bangalore may have direct flights to China

The Chinese industry is upbeat on the Centre's recent move to open up certain key sectors of the Indian economy.

Speaking on the issue of strengthening Sino-Indian trade relations organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) in Bangalore on Monday, Song Deheng, consul general of the People's Republic of China, said: "Chinese industry hopes to get encouragement from the Indian government in FDI. I believe Sino-Indian economic co-operation will come to a new stage with further push from both Chinese and Indian governments."

He highlighted the fact that some Chinese companies have won bids for some projects in India and are keen on India's infrastructure projects like power plants, flyovers, highways among others.

He also indicated that talks are underway to connect Bangalore with Beijing and Shanghai with direct flights.

"I have some information that a couple of Chinese airlines are looking at connecting Bangalore with two of our major cities, Beijing and Shanghai, shortly. This will certainly help in improving trade between our two nations," Deheng noted.

Speaking on the recent spurt in Sino-Indian trade ties, Deheng said: "The year of 2004 witnessed a big increase of Sino-Indian trade volume. The bilateral trade volume reached $13,604 million, up 79.1 per cent than 2003. Of which, China's export to India was $5.9 billion, 77.3 per cent up, while China's import from India was $7.8 billion, 80.6 per cent up. The rapid increase of Sino-Indian trade volume speaks for itself "" that the two economies are strongly complementary to each other."

He added that China's development generated opportunities for the economic growth of other countries including India and offered broader market for other countries as well.

Deheng highlighted that with steady improvement in bilateral relations between the countries, "we enjoy mutual confidence politically, growing personnel interactions and fast growth of bilateral trade".

Stating that the essence of trade was peace, he urged both countries to take up the responsibility of maintaining a stable environment for investment and trade.