THIS WILL BE A CENTURY OF ASIA, SAYS INDIA’S COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY MINISTER
By ANIThursday, December 16, 2010
NATURAL WITH ENGLISH SPEECH
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SOURCE: ANI
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This will be a century of Asia, says India’s Commerce and Industry Minister.
Emphasising on the thriving economic relations between New Delhi and Beijing, India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma says that ‘this will be a century of Asia’.
SHOWS:
NEW DELHI, INDIA (DECEMBER 15, 2010) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC)
1. CHINESE PREMIER WEN JAIBAO SITTING ALONG WITH OTHER INDIAN OFFICIALS AT A BUSINESS SUMMIT IN NEW DELHI
2. WEN JAIABAO SITTING ALONG WITH ANAND SHARMA, INDIA’S FEDERAL MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY AT THE SUMMIT
3. OTHER INDIAN AND CHINESE OFFICIALS AT THE CONFERENCE
4. MEDIA PERSONS AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE
5. MEDIA PERSONS CLICKING PHOTOGRAPHS
6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANAND SHARMA, INDIA’S MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, SAYING: “This will be a century of Asia. Already, the tide is turning.”
7. PHOTO JOURNALISTS AT THE SUMMIT
8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANAND SHARMA, INDIA’S MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, SAYING: “Your companies and the captain of the industries who have come here should look forward to the opportunities that India offers for collaborations, for joint ventures. We would be welcoming of Chinese investments in manufacturing (sector) and in India’s infrastructural development.”
9. MEDIA PERSONS AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE
10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANAND SHARMA, INDIA’S MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, SAYING: “Your country has reached great heights and it is an inspiring model when it comes to infrastructural development. India has made its own leaps, particularly in the areas of high technology, information technology, and pharmaceuticals. So, we have strengths, which have synergies. We have experiences, but we also have challenges.”
11. CHINESE PREMIER WEN JAIBAO SITTING ALONG WITH OTHER INDIAN OFFICIALS AT THE SUMMIT
STORY: Emphasising on the thriving economic relations between New Delhi and Beijing, India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said that ‘this will be a century of Asia’.
He said this while addressing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday (December 15) in New Delhi on India-China Business Cooperation Summit, who is on a three-day visit to India.
“This will be a century of Asia. Already, the tide is turning,” said Sharma.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao who arrived earlier in the day, said that the world is big enough for both Asian giants - India and China - to prosper as partners, not competitors.
It must be mentioned that Jiabao’s visit is the first by a Chinese Premier in five years and he brings more than 400 business executives with him. The two countries, home to more than a third of the world’s population, fought a war in 1962 and relations remain uneasy despite their booming trade relationships and rising global clouts.
Sharma further underlined New Delhi’s concern of a free-trade and more Chinese investment in India’s infrastructure and manufacturing sector.
“Your companies and the captain of the industries who have come here should look forward to the opportunities that India offers for collaborations, for joint ventures. We would be welcoming of Chinese investments in manufacturing (sector) and in India’s infrastructural development,” he said.
Chinese companies will sign more than $16 billion worth of deals, Jiabao told business leaders at the India-China Business Cooperation Summit on the first day of his three-day visit to India.
China is India’s largest trade partner and bilateral flows are expected to hit $60 billion in this fiscal year ending in March 2011, though the trade is skewed heavily in China’s favour.
“Your country has reached great heights and it is an inspiring model when it comes to infrastructural development. India has made its own leaps, particularly in the areas of high technology, information technology, and pharmaceuticals. So, we have strengths, which have synergies. We have experiences, but we also have challenges,” said Sharma.
Analysts said that India’s deficit with China could reach $24-25 billion this year. The deficit rose to $16 billion in 2007-08, from $1 billion in 2001-02, according to Indian customs data.
India has sought to diversify its trade basket, but raw materials and other low-end commodities such as iron ore still make up about 60 percent of its exports to China.
Still, total investment by China in India is small, amounting to only $221 million in 2009, representing only about 0.1 percent of China’s total outward foreign direct investment stock in that year.
However, both have stood together to resist Western demands in world trade and climate change talks, but they have also clashed over China’s close relationship with Pakistan, fears of Chinese spying and a longstanding border dispute.
