India, China ink pact on industrial parks

India and China have inked three agreements, including one to set up Chinese industrial parks in India.

The agreements were inked in the presence of visiting Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari and his Chinese counterpart Li Yuanchao after their talks.

The Indian cabinet had last week given in principle approval to the MoU for setting up Chinese industrial parks in India.

The MoU on Cooperation on Industrial Parks India is expected to facilitate more Chinese investment in India and help bridge the ballooning trade deficit, which stands at $35 billion a year. The bilateral trade totalled $65.47 billion last year.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held talks with her Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng Monday. She is believed to have flagged India's concerns over the trade deficit and sought greater access to Indian goods and services, which India has been pressing for some time time.

Sitharaman is part of the delegation accompanying the Indian vice president.

India is expecting China to set up four industrial parks in different states. Under the MoU, both sides have agreed to further expand the scope of bilateral trade and investment cooperation, and promote cooperation between Chinese and Indian enterprises including the development of industrial parks in India so as to provide a platform for cluster type development of the enterprises of both countries

The MoU on sharing flood data will provide India with 15 days more of hydrological data of river Brahmaputra, which flows down from China.

"Chinese side will provide hydrological information of Yarlung Zangbu/Brahmaputra river in flood season to the Indian side, and the Indian side will provide the Chinese side information regarding data utilization in flood forecasting and mitigation and the information of the related hydrological stations."

The third MoU will help both sides establish a framework for regular interactions between administrative officials to learn from each other's best practices. The MoU is for cooperation between Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, and China Executive Leadership Academy, Pudong, Shanghai.

The MoU envisages exchange visits by officials and cooperation in developing training programmes.