India, China hold Financial and Economic Dialogue

From K J M Varma Beijing, Aug 19 (PTI) China and India today held their 8thhigh-level Financial and Economic Dialogue here to strengthentrade and economic cooperation, with the two fast-developingnations underlining the need of building more solidarity toadopt more responsible macro economic policies. Secretary Economic Affairs, Shaktikanta Das accompanied bya delegation of officials from the RBI and Finance Ministrytook part in the annual Dialogue along with the Chinesedelegation led by Vice Minister for Finance Shi Yaobin. "India is working hard to unify the domestic market,improve infrastructure, speed up manufacturing sectordevelopment, encourage more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),"Shi said in his opening remarks at the meeting. "We are happy to hear that in early August IndiaÂ’s GST(Goods and Services Tax) reform has achieved historicalbreakthrough. In such kind of background we need to learn morefrom each other to coordinate micro economic policies, facemore challenges and create more drivers for our development,"he said. The dialogue mechanism is aimed at exchanging ideas andstatus reports on the macro economic situation in both thecountries in which officials of both the countries brief eachother about their economic and fiscal policies and discussissues of structural reforms and bilateral investment flowsand economic cooperation. This year’s dialogue is being held ahead of the G20 summitto be held in Chinese city of Hangzhou next month followed byBRICS, (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summits inGoa in October which would focus mainly global on economicslowdown and initiatives to spur growth. In his address, Das said, "Bilateral relations betweenIndia and China have witnessed all round progress in recentyears". "This is a significant development and demonstrates thepriority being attached by the two countries to our bilateraleconomic relations," he said.    "The annual dialogue is an important forum that enables usto revisit the entire range of bilateral relations andstrengthen various areas of economic cooperation," he said. He said during today’s talks the Indian side willhighlight steps for further cooperation between the twocountries with regard to trade, investment flows andparticipation of both Indian and Chinese companies in eachthere economic development besides structural reforms andcooperation between the countries in multilateral forums likeG20 and BRICS. Das said institutions like the G20 and BRICS have come toplay greater role in evolving global and regional consensus onimportant key issue affecting global economy. "I see a very good opportunity for a coordinated actionbetween India and China. From the Indian side we will also behighlighting the possibilities of further cooperation withregard to trade and investment flows," he said. He also said India is happy to note that China which holdsthe Presidency of the G20 has given greater focus oninclusiveness in the G20 summit agenda. (more) PTI KJV NSA AKJNSA