(March 20, 2009, New Delhi)

Distinguished Vice Minister Zhong Shan,

Joint Secretary of Ministry of Commerce & Industry Dinesh Sharma,

Friends from Media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Iam pleased to attend today's Promoting Conference of the 105th session of China Import and Export Fair. I would like to extend warm welcome to all of you. We are also privileged to have Mr. Zhong Shan, Vice Commerce Minister of China, who is on a visit to India, with us. His presence demonstrates the high importance attached to the conference by the Chinese side.

This conference is held against the backdrop of the further deepening global financial crisis, and at time when both governments are working hard to fight against the negative impacts of the crisis and ensure a stable and relatively fast growth of our economies. The conference would serve as a platform for the business sectors of both countries to work together to turn around the downturn and improve our economic situation.

Last year, despite the global financial crisis, the bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and India still achieved relatively fast growth. Taking bilateral trade as an example, according to the statistics of China's Customs, China-India trade volume reached US$51.7 billion in 2008, up by 34% than the previous year.

However, as the impact of the financial crisis creeps further, the real economy sector of our two countries are severely affected. Both have experienced plummeting exports, increasing unemployment, big net losses in revenue, etc. China's total foreign trade went down 20%, first time in seven years. Indian exports in the last five months also have been in the negative territory. As a result, China-India bilateral trade volume as of January 2009 fell by 37% over the same month of 2008.

From the above, we can see it is a challenging task for us to maintain the pace and level of our bilateral trade, as well as ensure a stable growth of our economies. We must redouble our efforts to find ways and means in order to ensure the realization of the target of bilateral trade set by our leaders, which is US$ 60 billion by 2010.

However, we still have good reasons to be confident in the prospects of our bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

The fundamentals of China and India's economies are good. Last year, China and India registered 9% and 7.1% GDP growth respectively. Both have strengths supported by huge domestic markets, sufficient financial resources, plenty of investment opportunities and rich and cheap labor forces. Both have shown resilience against the crisis, especially after our governments adopted series of measures to stimulate our domestic economies. So long as we work together and manage the crisis effectively, we can minimize the downsides of the crisis and achieve a win-win situation.

Based on this consensus, we should work on the following aspects to ensure the further growth of our bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

First, as two biggest developing countries, China and India should guard against protectionism from the developed countries, and avoid any protectionist acts against each other. Protectionism is neither conducive to the recovery of the world economy nor serves the interests of both countries. Any issues arising out of two-way trade should be resolved through friendly dialogues and consultations.

Second, the current level of our trade does not reflect the potentials and magnitude or our economies and markets. While maintaining the present momentum, China and India should make an effort to diversify our trade and expand trade scope by finding new varieties of products with an aim to achieving a better trade mix and trade balance.

Third, both sides should extend our cooperation from trade into mutual investment. In this area China and India hold great potentials. The Chinese Government encourages Chinese companies to invest in India and also welcomes Indian companies to invest in China. Both sides can even explore the possibility of joining efforts in investing in the third countries.

Last but not the least, both governments should play a role of facilitators to the bilateral trade and economic cooperation. In this regard, the Chinese government has been rolling out a series of measures. In 2007 the Chinese Ministry of Commerce hosted a South Asian trade fair to promote Indian goods and services in China. The second one will be held in Yunnan this June. During the upcoming Canton Fair, special pavilions will be set up for countries to promote their products. China will continue to provide convenience to Indian businessmen to do business with China.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The 105th session of China Canton Fair, which will be held from 15th April to 7th May, 2009, is another concrete step taken by the Chinese Government to promote international trade between China and foreign countries. The Chinese side attaches great importance to participant of the Indian business communities at the Fair. I hope Indian friends will seize the opportunity to showcase your products and services, and interact with Chinese business people. My Embassy will try our best to facilitate your participation. I believe, with your gracious supports, the 105th China Canton Fair will obtain a new brilliance.

Finally, I wish the highest success of this Promotion conference as well as the 105th China Import and Export Fair.