India hopes CIIE will boost trade with China

India, whose trade with China has been on a fast growth track in recent years, has decided to showcase products in four key sectors: food and agricultural products, pharmaceuticals, information technology-enabled services, tourism and services sector at the ongoing China International Import Expo as part of its efforts to boost trade with China.

The four areas which are exhibited in the India Country Pavilion at the CIIE represent a small Indian presence in China contrary to India and China's more and more frequent interaction, according to a statement on the website of the embassy of India in China.

The statement said Federation of Indian Export Organizations is the lead agency for the India Country Pavilion in CIIE, along with other stakeholders like Ministry of Tourism, Pharmexcil, Electronics and Software Export Promotion Council, to showcase India's strength in these diverse areas.

"We are looking for buyers for rice, tea, soybean and rapeseed meal in China," Sanjay Srivastava, general manager of Indian company JFK International Ltd, said at the CIIE on Monday. He added that the company has great expectations for the Chinese market.

Manoj Kumar, assistant manager of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, also introduced the products the Indian National Pavilion will showcase to Chinese consumers.

China is India's largest trading partner with total trade expected to reach $100 billion mark in near future. Bilateral trade volume between China and India in 2017 reached $84.4 billion, up by 20.3 percent year-on-year, the biggest increase in the past five years, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce.

The growth rate also surpassed the levels seen by most of China's trading partners last year, including Japan's 12.8 percent, South Korea's 13.7 percent and Thailand's 8.7 percent.

India has held various bilateral meetings at the government level and engaged Indian businessmen with China in its efforts to promote India's exports to China.

Rabi Sankar Bosu, secretary of an Indian think tank, the New Horizon Radio Listeners' Club, said trade is a very important aspect of bilateral ties between India and China. He said the first-ever China-oriented import expo has offered an opportunity for both countries to create a new chapter in trade, sharing common interests in defending the multilateral trading system and free trade.

Chinese products have greatly benefited Indian consumers over the years, and the CIIE will offer a platform for many Indian companies to expand exports to China, furthering trade ties between the two countries, he added.