It is a great honor for me to be here today to inaugurate the China Day of the 21st Industrial India Trade Fair in Kolkata.

The Trade Fair is held at a special juncture in the history of China-India relations. In the last few days the headlines of two items of good news attracted eyeballs of million people in both China and India.

First, China-India bilateral trade reached 38.6 billion USD in the calendar year of 2007 and China has now become India's biggest trade partner.

China and India have enjoyed cultural and people to people exchanges for more than 2000 years, but today it is the first time in the history that trade hold such a significant position in the China-India relations. The importance of this development is much beyond trade itself.

Second, during the recent China visit by H.E. Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, the leaders of the two countries set a fresh bilateral trade target for 2010, which has been revised from the previous target of 40 billion USD to a new high of 60 billion USD.

I believe that the encouraging trend of China-India trade will continue and the new target will be reached as scheduled. And I further believe that China's No. One position as India's trade partner will be maintained.

All this makes me recall that in 1999 the China-India bilateral trade was only 2 billion USD, and now we have reached nearly 40 billion USD. It is an increase of 20 times achieved within only eight years. This is a great story of success.

Ladies and gentlemen, business people from both China and India, you are part of this successful story. I salute to all the Chinese and Indian business people for your achievement of history making.

Today I am very glad to meet so many Chinese business people here. Now I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words about the current situation of India's economic development.

First, Indian economy has witnessed growth rates of close to 9% per year in the last three years.

Second, India's national savings and investment rates have increased to 35% of its GDP.

Third, quite different from China, India's growth has been mainly fuelled by an expanding domestic market.

Fourth, same as China, India has a population of more than one billion, but India's is a predominantly young population.

Fifth, the economy of West Bengal is booming and the leadership of the State is determined to resume the historical status of Kolkata as the industrial center of India.

All of these factors strongly indicate that Indian economy is taking off and India's future will be shining.

Finally, my sincere advice to my Chinese friends is this: it is the time to come to India to find your business opportunities, not only selling your products but also buying Indian goods.

Thank you.