China seeks Indian funds for Suzhou IT park

The total trade volume between India and China is expected to exceed $50 billion in 2010, Wenbang Fang, vice-chairman (administrative committee), Suzhou Industrial Park, said.

In 2005, the bilateral trade was estimated at $14 billion. "Although India and China are different in political systems and economic growth mode, we have an extensive common ground to cooperate on the basis of mutual benefit. The trade volume between the two countries is increasing annually at the rate of 30%," Fang said at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) seminar hosting a Suzhou trade delegation today.

Fang was representing the delegation, on a visit to woo Indian IT companies to invest in Suzhou. The Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) is the largest co-operative project between the governments of China and Singapore. So far, more than fifty Fortune 500 companies such as Samsung Semiconductor and Bosch have a presence in the park.

"The Indian companies can focus on government procurement, finance, distribution and logistics sectors as these have potential for growth. Also, in telecom we still do not have a solution for tariff calculation for 3G. So there is huge potential in this area as well." China is estimated to have received $56 billion FDI in 2004, Daisy Gao, deputy general manager of SIP Science and Technology Development, said.