India, China Hold 8th Financial And Economic Dialogue

BEIJING: China and India on Friday held their eighth high-levelFinancial and Economic Dialogue here to strengthen trade and economic cooperation, with the two fast-developing nations underlining the need of building more solidarity to adopt more responsible macro economic policies.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, accompanied by a delegation of officials from the Reserve Bank of India and Finance Ministry, took part in the annual dialogue along with the Chinese delegation led by Vice-Minister for Finance Shi Yaobin.

"India is working hard to unify the domestic market, improve infrastructure, speed up manufacturing sector development, encourage more foreign direct investment (FDI)," Shi said in his opening remarks at the meeting.

"We are happy to hear that, in early August, India's GST (Goods and Services Tax) reform has achieved historical breakthrough. In such kind of background we need to learn more from each other to coordinate micro economic policies, face more challenges and create more drivers for our development," he said.

The dialogue mechanism is aimed at exchanging ideas and status reports on the macro economic situation in both the countries. During the dialogue, officials of both the countries brief each other about their economic and fiscal policies and discuss issues of structural reforms and bilateral investment flows and economic cooperation.

This year's dialogue is being held ahead of the G20 summit to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou next month followed by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in Goa in October, which would focus mainly on the global economic slowdown and initiatives to spur growth.

In his address, Das said,"Bilateral relations between India and China have witnessed all round progress in recent years."

"This is a significant development and demonstrates the priority being attached by the two countries to our bilateral economic relations," he said.

"The annual dialogue is an important forum that enables us to revisit the entire range of bilateral relations and strengthen various areas of economic cooperation," he added.

He said that the Indian side will highlight steps for further cooperation between the two countries with regard to trade, investment flows and participation of both Indian and Chinese companies in each other's economic development besides structural reforms and cooperation between the countries in multilateral forums like G20 and BRICS.

Das said that institutions like the G20 and BRICS have come to play a greater role in evolving global and regional consensus on important key issue affecting global economy.

"I see a very good opportunity for coordinated action between India and China. From the Indian side, we will also be highlighting the possibilities of further cooperation with regard to trade and investment flows," he said.

He also said that India is happy to note that China, which holds the presidency of the G20, has given greater focus on inclusiveness in the G20 summit agenda.

"It is very important to point out that the idea of inclusiveness has been retained and has been given greater focus in G20 agenda under Chinese presidency," he said.

In a "very rightly and timely manner, the Chinese Presidency is also giving importance to new industrial revolution and innovation as main drivers of economic growth in the current century," he said.

The world is at a critical stage and innovation and the new industrial revolution will be the key drivers to give extra momentum for the growth of the world economy.

"May I reiterate, we in India attach high priority to the bilateral relations with China. We are confident to strengthen modalities of cooperation in major facets of economic and bilateral relationship," he said.

Shi said that emerging market economies like India and China face greater pressure today.

"In Global community, we keep hearing bad mouthing of emerging economies here and there," he said.

"So, as two important emerging economies, China and India need to build more solidarity, air common voice, urge developed countries to adopt more responsible macro economic policies and lay foundation and enabling environment for global economic recovery," he said.

He also said that both the counties should adopt more pragmatic and open approach to explore more areas of bilateral, fiscal and financial cooperation.

"Our combined population is over 40 per cent of global population. In 2015, the total GDP of the two countries adds up to 18.5 per cent of the global GDP. We are enjoying great market and development potential. However, by the end of 2015, our bilateral trade reached only $71.62 billion and China's investment in India is about $4.07 billion," Shi said, adding, "India's investment in China is only $650 million. This data could hardly match good relations and potential and state of economies."

Shi said that China is working hard to scale up infrastructure investment though its Silk Road intuitive, which is called One Belt and One Road (OBOR).

The Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar economic corridor, which is part of OBOR, will provide great opportunity for China and India's economies to take off, he said.

"With unprecedented economic opportunities, relevant departments should seize the opportunity to deliver common consensus of two countries by adopting bold and innovate approach to overcome the fiscal, financial as well as investment impediments to achieve higher, better economic trade and investment collaboration," he said.

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