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India would like to step up cooperation with China in energy sector, especially in the field of green technologies to boost trade ties, which in turn could help to build mutual trust to overcome differences, the Indian Ambassador, Mr S. Jaishankar, said.
New and renewable energy sources are expected to be one area where the two can cooperate to their mutual benefit, he told official China Daily on the eve of the BRICS summit being held in China today.
“We hope to discuss it at our first Strategic Economic Dialogue slated for this year,” he said.
Strategic Economic Dialogue to coordinate macro-economic policies was made during the Chinese Premier Mr Wen Jiabao’s visit to India in December last year.
India’s 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) calls for generating more power through renewable sources such as wind and solar power, he said, adding that China’s 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015), also focuses on a greener approach to economic growth.
On the perception that China and India have found themselves at odds with each other over a range of issues in the past, Mr Jaishankar said it is not necessary to be “overly fixated on competition’’.
“I recommend that the two look at the results of their cooperation to get a more balanced picture. The last 10 years have been particularly impressive,” he said.
He also noted that Beijing and New Delhi can increase that cooperation “even more”, while admitting that thinking big and working on a win-win solution does remain a challenge.
The Ambassador pointed out that China is India’s largest trade partner even though the trade has gone heavily in China’s favour and the deficit rose from $one billion in 2001 to $16 billion in 2007.
He noted that the group is still evolving, and especially in light of the upcoming BRICS summit in the Chinese resort city of Sanya, each summit has seen it grow further.
“These are large, influential nations meeting in a dynamic world, and the deliberations will certainly have their consequences,” he said.
“This is a forward looking group whose very coming together symbolises change in the global arrangement. BRICS has a tradition of independent decision-making, and this is a shift towards a more multi-polar, democratic world order,” Mr Jaishankar said.
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