Trade and investment drove the first India-China talks under the new government as the meeting between visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj stretched past three hours on Sunday. The two leaders didn’t address a joint press conference as planned, but the Foreign Ministry spokesperson briefed the media on the deliberations, calling them “cordial, useful and comprehensive, covering all important issues, substantive and productive.”
India and China have set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade a year by 2015, a goal which the two Ministers spoke about in their meetings. India’s concerns over the vast trade deficit of $ 31 billion out of bilateral trade of $ 65 billion last year came up, as Ms. Swaraj is also learnt to have spoken of more investment from China into Indian infrastructure, particularly in the Railway sector.
The two Ministers discussed the next steps on the long-standing border row as well as a road map for all the upcoming meetings between high-level Indian and Chinese dignitaries in the next few months of 2014, a year designated as the China-India Year of Friendly Exchanges. “If we take the possible engagements likely between our senior leadership and that of China, I could easily say that there are likely to be at least half a dozen such meetings, including those between President, VP, PM and FM,” the spokesperson said.
Mr. Wang will call on President Pranab Mukherjee and NSA Ajit Doval on Monday.
