India, China to strengthen bilateral trade, investment

Beijing, Dec 5 (IANS) India and China on Tuesday agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in trade and investment, and to seek opportunities to promote Chinese investments in the Indian economy.

The two countries also exchanged views on policies and measures to address the challenges for attaining sustainable growth, and held in-depth discussions on sharing experiences and best practices in the areas of electric mobility, clean energy, higher education and Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

The issues came up for discussion during the third edition of the DRC-NITI Aayog Dialogue between India's NITI Aayog and China's Development Research Council, held in Beijing.

The meeting was co-chaired by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and DRC President Li Wei.

During the meeting, the two sides agreed that amid global uncertainty and weak global growth, "the two large and rapidly growing developing countries had a major stake in the path that the global economy is likely to take in coming years".

"The DRC-NITI Dialogue provides an important platform for both sides to discuss key macro-economic issues impacting both countries and areas of mutual interest.

"The third dialogue enabled an in-depth interaction between the two delegations on the world economic prospects, India-China economic cooperation and practices for sustainable growth," said a statement from the NITI Aayog.

"The importance of pursuing balanced and sustainable bilateral trade was noted and opportunities for promoting Chinese investments in the Indian economy were highlighted," it added.

The two sides also agreed that the fourth NITI Aayog-DRC Dialogue will be held in India next year.