Trade deficit in focus as Chinese foreign minister visits

NEW DELHI: India and China launched their first high-level people-to-people and cultural exchange mechanism on Friday by listing 10 pillars of cooperation after a meeting between foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart Wang Yi.

Speaking on the occasion, Swaraj said there was a need to find a solution to India's expanding trade deficit with China even as she expressed satisfaction over increasing trade and investment ties between the two countries. India has over $50 billion trade deficit with China. She expressed hope that China will provide support for market access to Indian goods and services.

"Our bilateral economic ties have progressed well. While our bilateral trade is on the rise, we also need to find a solution to the continuously increasing trade deficit," Swaraj said in presence of Wang. She also thanked the Chinese side for specific steps taken by it in recent times to address the issue.

"We are confident that we will receive continuous support from the Chinese side so that we can increase our trade in a sustainable and balanced way," she added.

Wang, who arrived here early Friday morning, said he had a "very successful" meeting with Swaraj under the 'High Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges' that was decided upon during the Wuhan summit between PM Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping.