The Hindu : Front Page : Lift technical barriers to trade: Kamal Nath

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Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008
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Lift technical barriers to trade: Kamal Nath

Pallavi Aiyar

Beijing: While trade deficit with China in itself was “not so bad,” in the long-term it should be addressed for trade to be sustainable, said Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.

Interacting with the press after a business summit here, Mr. Nath said he had urged his Chinese counterparts to lift technical barriers to trade and eliminate non-tariff barriers. In particular, he raised the issue of 25 per cent cess on coking coal that China’s government had recently imposed to the detriment of India’s steel industry, as well as the continuing phytosanitary restrictions on the import of fruits and vegetables.

Flight proposal

The Minister said he expected Beijing to give clearance to Jet Airways for its proposed Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco service as well as TV landing rights for Zee Entertainment, in the near future.

His expectations were based on the fact that India has just given the go-ahead to Chinese cargo carrier Great Wall Airlines to fly to Mumbai and Chennai, a move that New Delhi initially blocked out of security concerns as key nuclear sites were located near the airports concerned.

India has also recently given Chinese broadcaster CCTV-9 TV landing rights.

Foreign investment

The Minister said India did not have any China-specific restriction on investment. While there were some locational issues to do with security concerns, these applied to all foreign investments equally.

On the potential areas for collaboration, Mr. Nath said he was in dialogue with the Chinese for shifting some of their surplus Olympic-related infrastructure to India for the Commonwealth Games.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Beijing’s National Olympic Stadium on Sunday, a building, he said “set the bar for imagining what was possible.”

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