[1]Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday offered to initiate talks for a free trade agreement with India and showed a willingness to give greater market access to Indian products to address New Delhi’s concerns over a widening trade deficit.
On the political front, Mr Li said both nations have the “wisdom” to find solutions to problems, including the boundary dispute. He also assured that crucial issues pertaining to trans-border rivers would be looked into.
“We also understand India’s concerns on trade deficit. China is willing to provide facilitation to India’s products to access Chinese markets,” said the Chinese Premier in an address in the national capital to the Indian business community.
He expressed confidence over the ability of the two nations to mitigate the trade imbalance. “China never has any intention to seek a trade surplus, only a dynamic trade balance is sustainable trade relations,” Mr Li said.
Mr Li assured that China would support its enterprises to increase investments in India and help Indian products gain access to the Chinese market as he supported a favourable trade balance.
India had a trade deficit of $40.78 billion in favour of China last yea. The commerce ministry, under Mr Anand Sharma, has been exploring the formulation of a “China policy” to deal with this trade deficit. According to officials, India wants the trade imbalance issue addressed before an FTA is signed as it doesn’t want a bilateral FTA leading to further trade imbalances.
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