By Li Hongmei
China and India issued a joint statement Monday highlighting their commitment to expanding common ground in bilateral cooperation and coordination in various fields.
The statement, released during Li Keqiang's debut visit to New Delhi as the Chinese Premier, said the two Asian giants have a historic opportunity for economic and social development and the realization of this goal will advance peace and prosperity in Asia and the world at large.
While striving to realize the trade turnover target of 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2015, the two countries agreed to take measures to address the issue of the trade imbalance, including cooperation in pharmaceutical supervision and completion of phytosanitary negotiations on agro-products.
India's Essar Group conglomerate is set to sign a US$1 billion loan deal with China's China Development Bank and China's largest oil and gas producer PetroChina during the trip, sources said. They said the loan would be backed by the supply of refined products to PetroChina.
The two sides also expressed willingness to carry out cooperation on establishing industrial zones so as to provide platforms for cluster-type development of enterprises of the two countries.
Moreover, they agreed to strengthen cooperation between their financial regulators, and support their banking institutions in setting up representative offices, branches or subsidiaries, and carrying out business activities subject to relevant laws and regulations.
Trade between India and China has witnessed exponential growth during the past few years. Bilateral trade had gone up from US $2.09 billion in 2001-02 to the high of US $75.59 billion in 2011-12.
During the trip, the premier offered New Delhi a "handshake across the Himalayas" and said the world's most populous nations could become a new engine for the global economy if they could avoid such irritants.
"Both sides believe that we need to improve the various border-related mechanisms that we have put into place and make them more efficient. We need to appropriately manage and resolve our differences," Li said at a joint news conference with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, where both leaders appeared relaxed.
In an impromptu speech after an official welcome ceremony at India's colonial-era presidential palace earlier on Monday, Li said he wanted to build trust and cooperation on his trip.
"World peace and regional stability cannot be a reality without strategic mutual trust between India and China. And likewise, the development and prosperity of the world cannot be a reality without the cooperation and simultaneous development of China and India," he said.
Li said he chose New Delhi as his first destination on the four-nation tour to show how important India is for China and also because he had fond memories of visiting as a Communist youth leader 27 years ago.
