Thaindian News

Onboard PM’s Special Aircraft, April 16 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said Chinese President Hu Jintao has assured him on reducing the trade imbalance between India and China and that the two countries are working to resolve the stapled visa row for “results in the near future”.

“Work is in progress. I hope some concrete results will be visible in the near future,” the prime minister told reporters who travelled with him on his five-day two-nation tour to China and Kazakhstan. He was asked whether the issue of stapled visas that China issues to Kashmiris was raised during his talks with Hu.

On the trade deficit between the two countries, Manmohan Singh said: “I did raise the question of the trade imbalance (between India and China). President Hu recognized that it is a problem. I also specifically mentioned about two areas, one pharmaceutical industry and the other IT. These happen to be the sectors where we feel Chinese could (allow market access)”.

Manmohan Singh noted that he could not say precisely if China would allow the market access to these two sector but “he (Hu) did say that he did recognise China has also the responsibility to tackle the problem of trade imbalances”.

India and China are looking to enhance bilateral commerce to $100 billion by 2015, but concerns remain on trade imbalance in favour of Beijing.

To reduce the deficit, India has been seeking more market access to Indian goods.

The trade imbalance rose to $20 billion in the overall bilateral commerce of nearly $60 billion in 2010. In 2009, this totalled about $16 billion.

He said his meeting with Hu “on important issues was very cordial”.

“We discussed bilateral economic issues, the trade imbalance. We also discussed other relevant issues relating to international situation, possibility of partnership between the two countries in the international fora of G20, in (World Trade Organisation) WTO and in the (UN) Security Council,” he said.

The prime minister mentioned about the restoration of defence exchanges with China and said, “My expectation is that they would continue.”

He said the two sides also considered a Chinese proposal for setting up a consultation mechanism on border dispute to maintain peace and tranquillity on the boundary between the two Asian giants.

Following the meeting between Manmohan Singh and Hu, the two countries agreed that a multi-command Indian Army delegation would be visiting China later this year.

India suspended defence exchanges in August last year, strongly objecting to China issuing a visa on a loose sheet to Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaiswal of the army’s Northern Command who was based in Jammu and Kashmir.

This was in continuance of China’s 2008 policy to issue stapled visas to Kashmiris, indicating that it sees the state as disputed territory and its residents as non-Indians.

The prime minister didn’t specifically mention about any movement on the Chinese side to resolve the visa row.