Besides bilateral issues,including the recent China incursion into India's Ladakh,External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid during his visit to Beijing on Thursday would discuss the issue of trade imbalance with China,including Indian concerns over exports of several items,especially drugs and pharmaceuticals,facing trade barriers in China. Sources told FE,"Broadly speaking India will seek access to Chinese markets for Indian products,especially pharmaceuticals and information technology and this certainly is on the table when the leaders of the two countries meet tomorrow." Energy savings,infrastructure,tourism,information technology and agriculture are the possible areas of cooperation between Indian and China. Neither country wants to harm booming business ties. China became India's biggest trading partner in 2011 when two-way trade hit nearly $75 billion,up from $5 billion in 2002. Both sides have set a bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2015. However,trade volume between the two emerging economies shrank in 2012 as India's exports to China fell 16 % mainly due to a 30 % export duty levied on iron ore shipped abroad. Imports of power and telecom equipment from China also saw a downtrend in 2012. Next month,China will host its first South Asian trade expo,designed to attract Indian businesses and elsewhere in the region. The Chinese incursion issue is expected to figure in Khurshid's talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as well as Premier Li Keqiang when he calls on them. The focus of Khurshid's talks will be to finalise the programme of Li's visit to India during which he would be visiting both New Delhi and Mumbai later this month,to be followed by a return visit by Prime minister Manmohan Singh in June. Amidst border tensions,China is keen on a flourishing border trade with India. "The volume of trade will go up further if we can develop border trade," said a former diplomat.
