Informal meet augurs well for strategic ties, says FIEO

Chennai: Federation of Indian Export Organisations on Saturday said the informal meet between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi augurs well for cementing strategic ties between the Asiatic giants besides resolving issues.

“Chennai summit a pragmatic way of constructive engagement to resolve trade and other issues,” FIEO president Sharad Kumar Saraf said in a statement on Saturday.

Differences between two neighbours were not surprising and the key was to resolve them through constructive engagement and consultation, he said.

Saraf said India’s trade deficit with China was a ‘cause of concern’ and it was USD 53 billion last financial year. “A bigger worry is the market access which is restricting Indian exports to realise its true potential,” he said, adding the country’s untapped exports potential was pegged as USD 18 billion much more than country’s exports of USD 16.8 billion.

Dairy products, bovine meat, soyabean meal and many fruits are not given market access which is equally a problem for Indian pharmaceuticals industry as registration takes enormous time, he said. According to him, India being a large market and having corporate tax rate at 15 per cent much less than 25 per cent in China is best positioned to attract investments.

FIEO welcomed the facility of five years multiple entry visa for Chinese citizens and hoped China would also reciprocate to give a fillip to tourism. The coastal town of Mamallapuram, near here, hosted the two leaders for their second informal summit, with Xi and Modi having earlier met in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year. —PTI