Chinese President Hu Jintao delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the India-China economic, trade and investment cooperation summit and CEO forum in Mumbai, India, Nov, 23, 2006. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

Special Report: Hu Jintao visits 4 Asian nations, attends APEC Meeting

    BEIJING, Nov. 24 -- Visiting Chinese President has made a five-point proposal for promoting Sino-Indian economic and trade cooperation. It is made at the India-China Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation Summit and CEO Forum.

    President Hu received a warm welcome. He expressed appreciation for the Chinese and Indian people who promote the bilateral trade relations.

    Hu said:"I'm glad to participae in this India-China Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation Summit and CEO Forum in Mumbai, and I'm happy to meet Chinese and Indian businessmen here. I'm appreciated that all of you have always made contributions to the development of the sino-Indian economic and trade relations. "

    President Hu made a five-point proposal at the meeting. The first is to expand and upgrade bilateral trade. The two countries have set a new goal for bilateral trade to reach 40 billion U.S. dollars in the year 2010. To achieve this goal, Hu said both sides should work to improve the trade structure, increase the technology content in commodities and add value to them, increase the share of new and high-tech products and electron mechanical products in bilateral trade, expand the scale of trade and upgrade the level of cooperation.

    The second is to strengthen cooperation in key areas. Hu said the respective strength of China and India in many areas is mutually complementary and offers great potential for cooperation. The two sides should explore business opportunities in all fields and nurture new growth stimulus to boost business ties.

    The third is to improve environment of trade and investment. He said the Chinese and Indian governments should, acting in the overall interests of the two countries, strengthen consultation and dialogue and properly resolve problems in business and trade.

    The fourth is to strengthen cooperation in multilateral fields

    and with third countries. He said China and India should strengthen coordination in the World Trade Organization and other multilateral economic organizations to jointly uphold the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.

    The fifth is to actively explore trade liberalization. He said to establish a China-India free trade area will lift the bilateral business relations to a higher level and promote regional economic integration in Asia.

    China and India have started joint feasibility study on regional trade arrangement and agreed to conclude the study by October 2007, said Hu, hoping this will lay a good foundation for launching negotiation on regional trade arrangement.

(Source: CCTV.com)