• H. E. Mr. Yu Zhengsheng, Member of Political Bureau, Control Committee and Secretary of Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC
• H. E. Mr. Zhang Yan, Ambassador, Embassy of People’s Republic of China
• Vice Minister’s from China
• Senior Government of India officials
• Senior Business community from India
• Officials from China

It is a pleasure to welcome H. E. Mr. Yu Zhengsheng, Member of Political Bureau, Control Committee and Secretary of Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC and other dignitaries to FICCI.

Let me, at the outset, congratulate the People and Leadership of China for two of their greatest achievements which have made the world really sit up and take notice of the tremendous progress and strides made by China -

These are indeed achievements to be proud of.

CHINA AND INDIA

The rise of China and India has been widely acknowledge as being unparalleled in the recent history as the world has never witnessed the simultaneous and consistent takeoffs of two giants, accounting for more than one third of the planet’s population consistently registering high growth rates.

Their rise has a profound impact on the economic and political scenario of the world. Both China and India are revisionist powers. Both have to play a greater role in the making of new rules of the international economic and financial system, in the establishment of which, they had no role and which, till today, have been exclusively managed by Western economies. The two new big giants on the block have no difficulty with a rule-based world order, what they want is “a different set of rules”.

Events like the Global financial crisis and failure of large tracts of western financial system will offer powers like China and India opportunities and responsibility to shape and influence global agendas and decisions to a greater extent than at present. And this is the reason why World Bank Chief wants India and China to be a part of G7 countries. The economies of China and India and their performances will go to a large extent to determining how deep and long the global recession and impacts of the Global financial crisis will be.

More importantly, China and India share other shared challenges of a different kind as well. In Prime Ministers Wen Jiabaos recent interview to Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek “Although China has registered fairly fast economic and social development, we still have millions of people living in poverty and need to make committed and very earnest efforts in addressing them”. India has the similar challenge of including many millions of our countrymen into the economic growth process.

SHANGHAI

Ladies and gentlemen, states & provinces are building blocks of our growth. India today can boast of a strong 8% plus growth because of its industrially developed and advanced states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat etc. Similarly, when we think of China, our attention is immediately drawn towards highly developed regions of Beijing and Shanghai.

Shanghai is one of China’s most dynamic and economically advanced areas with a GDP of US$ 166.6 billion, and a consistent double digit GDP growth rate for the last 18 years (present GDP growth rate being 13.3%), which is much higher than that of China as a whole. Similarly, Shanghai’s per capita GDP of US$ 8000 is nearly 4 times that of China’s national average of US$ 2200. More than 500 multinational companies have their regional corporate headquarters in Shanghai. Shanghai is also home to more than 50 Indian companies, and is an indispensible link in our bilateral economic and commercial ties.

In the last one and half decade Shanghai has transformed itself into a glittering metropolis with more skycrappers than New York. I believe the aim of the city Government of making Shanghai one of the leading economic, financial, trade and shipping centre of the world by 2020 would be achieved much earlier. That Shanghai is the model to follow has been acknowledged even by our Prime Minister, when he said Mumbai should be developed into the next Shanghai.

Talking about our business relations, I would say that India China Trade has increased by leaps and bounds in the recent years. China is all set to become India’s largest trading partner in the near future. While this is a very healthy development, there are certain issues that we from the Indian industry feel which should be addressed for the greater good of our overall economic relations.

THE WAY AHEAD

India-China trade today stands at USD 38 billion in 2007-08, India's exports were valued at USD 11 billion and imports from China at USD 27 billion. There was a trade deficit of USD 16 billion. India's exports consisted mainly of raw materials and low value products. We from FICCI strongly feel that there is an imperative need to diversify our export basket to China if this adverse trade balance is to be altered and overall trade be made truly beneficial to people of both the countries. Fixing this trade imbalance is a critical part of developing a stronger and more sustainable economic relationship between our two nations.

As a very positive step in this direction, China agreed to send buying mission to India to step up India exports to China. I would like to share that just 5 days ago, we at FICCI had the privilege of interacting with the Vice Minister of Commerce PR China and accompanying business & Govt delegation. During the course of the meeting, Indian companies signed MoU worth USD 390 million. We hope this is a good first step to address this trade imbalance and to further grow the size of this trade in coming years.

Let me end by saying that visits like this would lead to a successful partnership of India and China in the coming years With this, I would like to invite H. E Mr. Yu Zhengsheng to address the gathering.

Thank you