The Hindu Business Line : India Inc eager to get in touch with Hu's who

Indian entrepreneurs and trade associations such as CII and FICCI are eagerly waiting to meet the visiting Chinese Premier, Mr Hu Jintao, who will be accompanied by a 157-strong business delegation.

The delegation will represent entities such as Sinosteel Corporation, Export Import Bank of China, China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau, SEPPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation, Huawei, and TCL Corporation.

The Premier's visit to the business community of India will "break the ice" between the two countries, say industry captains.

Bilateral trade between India and China has been increasing post the opening up of both the economies. Trade between the two countries shot up to $ 7.6 billion in 2003 and $ 12.6 billion in 2005; and is expected to touch $ 20 billion in 2008.

"The visit of the Chinese premier and the B-to-B meetings that will follow, will have a wide-reaching impact on trade and commerce between the two countries," said Mr T.S. Vishwanath, Head - International Trade Policies, CII.

The two countries will focus on sectors such as textiles, chemicals, steel, plastics, forgings, IT and Biotechnology, said Mr Vishwanath.

"There is an impending need to diversify the Indian export basket. We have to bring in more value addition to products shipped from India. Issues pertaining to delay in getting regulatory approvals, standardisation of procedures, trade date harmonisation and information processing are likely to come up for discussions during the B-to-B meetings. Business meetings will also focus on evolving methods to raise cross investments in the two countries,'' said Mr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI.

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