India, China agree to address trade imbalance

India and China have agreed on a roadmap for addressing the imbalance in bilateral trade, heavily tilted in the latter's favour.

The agreement was reached at the 11th session of the China-India Joint-Group on Economic Relations, Trade, Science and Technology in New Delhi on Monday headed by India's Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu and his Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan.

An official statement issued yesterday said the two ministers reaffirmed their commitments to increasing balanced and sustainable bilateral trade and agreed to draw up a medium and a long-term roadmap with action points and timelines.

The Chinese side noted India's concerns regarding the long-standing imbalance along with requests for market access of Indian products and services and expressed commitment to address those, it said.

The Chinese side iterated its commitment to expeditiously work towards giving market access to Indian agricultural products such as non-basmati rice, rapeseed and soybean meals, pomegranate and pomegranate arils, okra, banana, other fruits and vegetables, and beef.

The two sides also reaffirmed their aim to promote bilateral trade in pharmaceuticals and resolve issues involving Indian pharma exports to China, the statement said.

The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation within World Trade Organisation and other multilateral and regional frameworks to uphold common interests and reiterated commitment to rules-based multilateral global trade.

The two largest emerging economies account for 35 percent of the world population and around 20 percent of the gross domestic product. However, the bilateral trade is less than 1 percent of global trade.