Posted on 08/01/2002 1:13:16 AM PDT by AIG
NEW DELHI: If you can’t beat them, join them. That seems to be the mantra for India Inc which has decided to partner with China in a big way. For the first time, China will be the partner country in the 15th International Engineering and Technology Fair 2003 'as a measure to further strengthen Sino-Indian cooperation in commerce and trade'.
China as the partner country in the biennial fair organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry could lead to closer ties between the two countries, believe Indian corporates.
Participation in trade fairs is today one of the most effective means to strengthen exchanges and explore market and India Inc knows that.
IETF could take 'Hindi-Chini bhai bhai' to a new plank and is expected to lead to many new trade initiatives between the two countries, feels CII.
According to Chinese Ambassador to India Hua Junduo, IETF 2003 would open up new areas of cooperation between the business communities of the two countries, thereby promoting economic and technological cooperation between India and China.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, he invited participation from the Indian business community in the trade fairs and other conferences in China to explore newer areas of cooperation.
The Chinese Ambassador said that Sino-Indian economic ties have been growing significantly in the past few years and expressed confidence that the bilateral trade would cross $4 billion threshold at the end of 2002.
This would signify quantum jump from the existing figure of $3.6 billion in 2001. The bilateral trade stood at $3.6 billion at the end of last year and exceeded $2 billion in the first half of this year, indicating a growth of 15.8 per cent.
According to him, the exchanges between the two countries have expanded from the traditional import and export of raw materials to cooperation in areas like pharmaceuticals, chemical industry, electronics and engineering.
The Indian software industry is already going soft on China with most of the top Indian software exporters seeking to set up full-fledged base in the country.
Apex software organisation National Association of Software Companies seeks to dispel fears that China could overtake India in software and services leadership in a few years.
Instead, India stands to gain a lot from the Chinese progress in software as much of it will come from the Indian c! ompanies there, it feels.
CII International chairman Bharat Ram is of the opinion there will be a lot of synergy between India and China in IT as India is strong in software and China in hardware.
Most top IT companies have a presence in China and NIIT is planning to set up 100 more educational centres this year in addition to the 67 already existing in China, he pointed out.
The 15th IETF 2003 will be held in Delhi between February 5 and 8, 2003. It would explore inter-sectoral synergies between India and China through the five focussed business fairs. These shows would be Aqua India 2003, AutoComp 2003, Biotech India 2003, Enterprise 2003 and Refricon 2003.
Aqua India 2003 - the exhibition cum conference on rural, urban and industrial water management and Biotech 2003 - an exhibition and conference on Biotechnology would be held for the first time as a part of IETF.
Keeping with CII's theme of Competitiveness of India Inc for this year, IETF would also have a parallel theme - the India Infrastructure Show. The sectors covered would include airports, ports, power, railways, roads and highways, water and urban infrastructure and housing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.