It gives me great pleasure to join you all today at this forum to discuss investment and trade issues between India and China. I would like to welcome all participants from both China and India, expressing my particular appreciation for the presence of the delegation from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

1. I am particularly happy that this forum is being held during the China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi. India and Xinjiang are close neighbors and exchanges between the two sides have been growing over years. Chairman of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Nur Bekri visited India in 2011 and I have visited Xinjiang every year for the last three years. Enterprises of India and Xinjiang are already exploiting the business and investment opportunities presented to them by the other side and I hope that this forum gives them another occasion to work in that direction.

2. Many of you are aware that the India-China economic relations have grown very substantially in the last decade and a half. We are now at an important juncture where decisions that could be taken may raise our cooperation to a much higher level. This May, Premier Li Keqiang visited India and his discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh established a consensus on five important areas:

i) The two countries would address the issue of trade imbalance and our businesses would cooperate more strongly in many fields, including pharmaceuticals, IT and agro products.
ii) Project contracting, which has particular relevance for infrastructure development in India, will be enhanced.
iii) The two countries will establish industrial zones to provide platform for cluster-type development of enterprises.
iv) We will support banking institutions setting up a larger presence and carrying out more business activities, and
v) We will collaborate on development projects of common interest in third countries.

3. The delegation from Andhra Pradesh is here in pursuance of all the above objectives, but with a special focus on the establishment of Chinese industrial zones in India.

4. I am sure that today’s forum will be useful in providing greater information and encourage stronger collaboration between our business enterprises. I thank the organizers for their initiative and wish you all a very productive session.