Sino-Indian Strategic Partnership Reaches New Heights

Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao and Ambassador Ashok K. Kantha attend the opening ceremony on January 24, 2014 of the China-India “Year of Friendship in 2014” in Beijing.

“The huge cooperation potential between India and China is manifested in politics, diplomacy, culture and economy. To our delight, we’ve noticed that both people-to-people and high-ranking exchanges and cooperation of the two sides are further enhanced and witnessing substantial results. We sincerely hope our bilateral relations can make headway,” Kantha said.

Kantha indicated that as bilateral economic and trade exchanges go from strength to strength, China is becoming one of the largest trade partners of India. It’s predicted that by 2015, bilateral trade volume will reach US $100 billion. This is a high target, but given the sound momentum of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, it’s believed that the goal will be reached eventually.

“Last year during his visit to China, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated that the Indian government welcomes Chinese investment in India. We encourage Chinese companies to invest in India and set up production lines. Meanwhile, we also encourage Indian firms to invest in China and establish factories or companies there. We firmly believe that propelled by joint efforts made by the governments and people, our relationship has a bright future,” Kantha concluded. “In terms of highly important bilateral relations, it’s not only the high-ranking exchanges that count; people-to-people exchanges and cooperation can also contribute greatly.”