From rxpgnews.com
India, China to sign 10 agreements tomorrow
By Indo Asian News Service,
Nov 20, 2006 - 11:47:15 PM
New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) India and China will sign 10 agreements Tuesday in diverse areas, including trade, education and health and add 'more substance' to their strategic partnership in the context of a new evolving global order.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao, who arrives here Monday evening on a four-day visit, will discuss a range of bilateral and global issues, including the decades-old border row, the proposed free trade area between the world's two fastest growing economies and global issues like the UN reforms.
A bilateral investment and protection agreement between India and China aimed at boosting bilateral economic ties will be among other agreements signed between the two sides Tuesday. Bilateral trade is expected to exceed $20 billion this year.
The two countries are also expected to set up a hotline between their foreign ministers to boost confidence level between them.
India will seek China's cooperation and support for global civil nuclear cooperation in the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group of which Beijing is a member.
'We have spoken informally to the NSG members on this issue, but we haven't asked them to take a position. The issues of civilian nuclear cooperation and energy security are going to be on the table,' a senior official, who did not wish to be named, said.
From New Delhi's point of view, the central thrust of Hu's visit is to further reinforce the 'global dimension' of the bilateral relationship and send a signal to the world that 'India and China are partners on the global stage as well.'
'The strategic and global partnership for peace and partnership India and China signed last year during Premier Wen Jiabao's visit showed we have to do global business together,' the official said.
'President Hu's visit is a landmark in China-India relations. The most important task of this tour is to enrich the strategic partnership between China and India,' Sun Yuxi, Chinese ambassador to India, told Xinhua news agency.
India's approach to Hu's visit that is expected to bridge trust deficit between the two Asian giants is to keep engaging Beijing on difficult issues like the border dispute but not to allow this issue to prevent progress in other areas like growing trade and economic relations and cooperation on global issues.
'We have made progress on the boundary issue and we will keep talking. Over the years, the border has been peaceful and there is a salience of difference over the issue,' a senior official said.
'We have a better relationship than China than ever before. As we change and grow, both India and China have space to grow together,' the official stressed.
India is also keen to get across to China, which is worried about some Indian security-related bars to Chinese investment here, that New Delhi does not have a discriminatory policy on foreign investment.
'There are no country-specific rules,' the official stressed.
However, certain sectors like infrastructure and telecom, due to their sensitivities, require security approvals. But here also, rules are the same for everybody, he added.
Alluding to the Chinese envoy's concerns about discrimination against Chinese investment in India, the official said that it reflects 'a sense of victim-hood' that is not grounded in reality.
China has 30 projects estimated to be worth $6.9 billion in India - the largest number Beijing has in any country abroad, according to an official.
Knowing Beijing's sensitivities on the Tibetan issue, New Delhi has reiterated its official position that it recognises Tibet as an autonomous region of China.
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