09 February 2012 India and China have set a bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2015, against last year's record figure of $74 billion, even as the two countries pledged to carry forward the momentum of bilateral trade.
India will strive to carry forward the positive momentum in economic and trade cooperation with China, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted external affairs minister S M Krishna as saying.
Krishna, who is on a visit to China, was speaking at the inauguration of the new Indian embassy in Beijing.
"We have set a target of $100 billion for the year 2015 and I'm confident we will achieve this target," Krishna said in an interview to Xinhua.
The two sides have set up a strategic economic dialogue mechanism in order to further enhance bilateral cooperation, Krishna pointed out.
"We will continue to work hard to maintain the positive momentum of bilateral trade with China," Krishna said.
India-China bilateral trade added $12.2 billion in 2011 to the $61.7 billion achieved in 2010, according to official trade figures.
This, however, pushed India's trade deficit with China for the year to $27.05 billion.
India's exports to China rose 12.26 per cent to $23.4 billion year-on-year.
India exports mainly primary commodities, mostly iron ore, to China while it imports a whole lot of finished products from that country.
Meanwhile, iron ore exports from the country saw a decline last year after the Supreme Court banned exports from iron ore mines in Karnataka and Goa in the wake of the export scandal and concerns over violation of ecological guidelines.
Chinese exports to India, on the other hand, crossed the $50 billion mark, recording a growth of 23.51 per cent year-on-year.
The share of India-China trade in China's overall trade also increased to about 3.8 per cent from 2.06 per cent in 2010.
Source : domain-b.com