Mr. P R Agarwala, President and a few senior Members of the Committee of Bharat Chamber of Commerce held a luncheon meeting with Mr. Mao Siwei, recently appointed Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Kolkata, on Wednesday, the 21st November, 2007 at Park Hotel, Kolkata.

Mr. Agarwala, while welcoming Mr. Mao Siwei, observed that a new impetus in trade between China and Eastern India has arisen due to the opening of the Consulate General in Kolkata and the decision to start direct flight between China and Kolkata.

Introducing the members present at the meeting, Mr. Agarwala provided a brief background of their business interests.

The various suggestions made by the Chamber, inter-alia included (a) possibility of Bharat Chamber of Commerce playing a key role for commercially connecting the State of West Bengal with a similar partner province in China for mutually compatible trade and business interest; (b) BCC signing an agreement for mutual support and assistance with a chamber of commerce in China; and (c) proposal for sponsoring the Kolkata Chapter of Indo-China Chamber of Commerce by Bharat Chamber of Commerce. It was suggested that the Chamber would like to sponsor a Business Delegation to China in 2008.

Mr. Mao Siwei, while making his observations, stated that China does not see India as a threat and does not want to utilize Pakistan for a containment policy towards India as some people claimed. He pointed out that India and China are the only two countries having population of more than 1 billion, they share a lot of common things and as a result there is tremendous scope of cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

Mr. Mao informed that bilateral trade between India and China in 1999 was only 2 billion USD and in 2000 it was less than 3 billion USD. However, in the nine month period between January and September, 2007, the bilateral trade between China and India had reached 27 billion USD. It is expected that the figure will touch 30 billion USD by the end of this year. He further observed that if the trend continues, the target of 40 billion USD of trade by 2010 will be achieved much ahead of the targeted date.

In respect of the opening of the consular office in Kolkata, Mr. Mao Siwei said that in the 1950s, an office of Chinese Consulate General was functioning from Kolkata and on account of various reasons it was discontinued in the 1960s. He informed the members of BCC that the jurisdiction of the Consulate General covers the five States of West Bengal, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa.

(Courtesy: BCC)