Amid a concerted campaign by India to provide wider opening for Indian products to address the trade imbalance, China today said it recognised the mounting trade surplus building in its favour and promised to increase Indian imports to address New Delhi's concerns.
China accepts that there is a trade surplus in its favour and want to address it by increasing imports from India, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Chong Quan told a meeting of the India-China business forum held at the Chinese city of Chengdu today.
Chong who is also China's Deputy International Trade Representative said Indian companies should be more proactive in exploring markets in China.
If Indian companies invest more China, they can also sell more, thereby addressing trade imbalance, he said.
He also said the two countries need develop more convergence of interests and mutual trust is also essential to expand cooperation.
The Chinese Ministers comments promising to address the yawning trade gap came as India launched a major business campaigns in the recent months in different cities to familiarise its strong business areas, specially IT, agro products, pharmaceuticals and engineering goods.
Indian Ambassador to China, S Jaishankar, who spearheaded the campaign during the past few months, expressed his happiness over the Chinese Minister's comments.
"Market access is the key concern and greater awareness and openness of mind the urgent need. We are getting assurances from the Chinese side; we are waiting to see this translated into actual business," he said.
The imbalance has become a major issue as the trade between the two Asian giants is on course to touch $60 billion this year.
It already crossed $30 billion in the six months with Chinese exports having a lion's share of $18.4 billion against India's $11.9 billion.
Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahay, who inaugurated the meeting held on the sidelines of the Western China International Fair in Chengdu, called for market access to India's Basmati rice, vegetables, fruits and meat products.
"We have been negotiating for a number of years for market access for eight vegetables and five fruits," he said.
The export of basmati rice awaits the expeditious completion of technical procedures.
"In the case of bovine meat to China, we hope that in the light of the changed situation in India, the current ban would be re-examined," he said.
Both India and China can also benefit by an exchange of best practices in agriculture, food storage and food processing, Sahay, who visited a one of China's largest dairy and a grain processing units said.
Besides the trade in goods the two countries also witnessed an increase in trade in services, investments and more collaborative commercial research and product development, he said.
While Chinese companies presence was on the increase specially on the infrastructure development front, the Chinese market has become more challenging for the Indian companies which are still struggling to make their presence felt.
"Among the Indian operations currently in China, we have some success cases that we hope will be an inspiration to the others.
However, the overall picture is still one of regulations, policies and practices that restrict market access, he said.
Thirty five top Indian companies manufacturing and marketing wide range of products participated in the fair, which is being organised by China at Changdu to unveil its plans to develop the western region.