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PM
arrives in Beijing to talk trade
When
two countries have 5,000 years of civilisation behind them, major
breakthroughs are generally slow in coming. So, as Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee landed in Beijing today, his minders sought to
dampen expectations.
An
official, briefing journalists on board the Samudra Gupta, said the
fact that an Indian prime minister was visiting Beijing after a
decade was an event in itself.
How
glacial the pace of change on the contentious border dispute — and
therefore on land trade throughSikkim — has been, and is likely to
be, is best seen from the fact that India and China first sought to
define the Line of Actual Control in 1993, it was 1996 by the time
they decided to exchange maps and 2000 by the time they worked out
the means to do so. By 2003 maps have been exchanged in only the
central region.
Vajpayee
contented himself by observing, on his departure, that “there is a
compelling geographical, political and economic logic for closer
relations between our two countries.”
A
senior official said economics would be the main focus area, and
some trade agreements would be signed, but he refused to go into the
specifics. “When Zhu Rongji came to India, he said bilateral trade
should be increased to $10 billion. So the role of government is a
big one in promoting what looks like just private sector trade,”
the official said.
India,
for instance, exports horticultural products to the West, but not to
China.
If
China were to allow this, another official said, trade would jump
tremendously. Issues such as this will be taken up by the Indian
side. Investment restrictions will also be part of the agenda. India
scrutinises Chinese investments closely, especially in sensitive
areas like telecommunications, and China does not allow investments
in certain areas.
The
real big agreement, of course, will be one relaxing visa
requirements. Today, for instance, businessmen get visas only after
they show invitation letters from across the border, and these are
scrutinised carefully.
Tourist
visas are also not freely available. This agreement, of course, was
on the cards since November, when China gave India an approved
destination status.
For
now, the mood of the Indian delegation, as well as the 80-strong
business delegation that has coincided its trip with Vajpayee’s,
is mainly one of exploration, re-engaging, and re-discovery.
Sunil
Munjal of Hero Motors is exploring the potential of producing
motorcycles in China, and most members of the Nasscom delegation are
doing the same — a huge IT exhibition in Shanghai on the June 26
is likely to have 400 Chinese participants who will be exposed to
India’s IT might for the first time.
Others
like KK Modi (Ficci) and Rajeev Chandrasekhar (CII) have dropped out
of the delegation at the last minute “as something else came
up”, signs that Indo-Chinese business ties have still a long way
to go.
In
terms of actual business announcements, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
is expected to formalise its deal to develop the trading and
clearing system for the Shanghai stock exchange; the company will
also expand its development centre in Shanghai from the present 100
employees to 250.
Satyam
will set up a 100-member development centre, and other announcements
are likely from IT solutions firm vMoksha and Zenesar Technologies.
Says Nasscom vice-president Sangeeta Gupta, “The main purpose is
to engage with China, to build partnerships.”
To
some extent, this is already happening through the sharp hike in
trade between the two countries - in the first four months of the
year, trade jumped 96 per cent against the same period last year.
According
to CII director-general Tarun Das, bilateral trade between the two
nations may reach $10 billion by 2005 itself, five years ahead of
target.
On
the eve of the PM's visit, however, Ficci released a study saying
India’s exports still comprise primarily raw materials like iron
ore. Ficci also complained of poor market access, due to which
Indian exporters and the few Indian firms who have production
facilities in China find it difficult to penetrate the country’s
markets.
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