India, China to hold Education Expo at Convention Centre

He was addressing a Special Session on "Eastern India-China Trade Relations: Finding Common Ground on Bilateral Ties" organised by Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) on Saturday.

Zhanwu mentioned that the event would be held as part of the friendly exchange in the educational sector between the two countries, with a special focus over Bengal. Universities from both the countries can come together exploring various avenues in the education sector whereby the students from this part of the country be immensely benefitted through the sharing of knowledge. It would also strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries — India and China.

Zhanwu urged the members of the Chamber to promote trade ties as part of bilateral relations. He also expressed his happiness as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given her consent to visit China in June this year. China is eager to strengthen ties with Bengal in various fields including tourism, Education, development of infrastructure and export. China intends to focus on India in contrast to its erstwhile stand. The "New Era" will also mark a robust growth in trade and investment between the two countries, he maintained. He also urged Bengal to drive investments in the state from China in sectors like IT, automobile and banking.

During his address, Sitaram Sharma, president of Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) drew attention to China being India's largest trading partner with the figures reaching to $84.44 billion last year. Sharma felt that the economic and trade relations between China and India have gathered momentum in recent years, with bilateral cooperation bearing remarkable fruits.

He also stated that China and India have had strategic and economic dialogues in the recent past, highlighting India's "Act East Policy" and the proposed trans-regional corridor of Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar which would facilitate communication and transportation network between Kolkata and Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province and in its turn, boost bilateral trade between the countries.

Zhanwu also offered to organise Trade Expos and Trade Fairs and stated that China will increase its share of import from Eastern India.

He expected that Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be the focus area of both the countries and expressed optimism in forging economic relations and strengthening bilateral ties between the two largest economies of the world.