India, China sign trade deals

NEW DELHI , Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Leaders of the world's two most populous countries, China and India, have signed 14 agreements thus far in their summit meeting in New Delhi.

The three-day meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yielded a deal in which China will invest $20 billion in India in the next five years, a trade and economic development pact signed Thursday by the two countries' ministers of commerce.

Modi was elected, earlier this year, on a platform of stimulating India's economy, and is eager to see Chinese investment in India's infrastructure and manufacturing base. Despite $66 billion in trade between the two countries, India maintains a large trade deficit with more imported from China than exported to it.

"In the last two days, we talked about all aspects of India-China relations. We have decided to increase co-operation on every possible front," Modi said Thursday. "I have highlighted the rise in India's trade balance. We feel we can increase our economic relations."

The agreements signed include modernization of India's railroads, construction of industrial parks and "customs cooperation" at the shared border. Talks regarding cooperation in civil nuclear energy, which Modi said would take bilateral collaboration to "a new level," begin Thursday.

Writing in the Indian newspaper The Hindu, Xi said Wednesday the two countries, who account for a third of the world's population, could rely on one another's expertise to mutual advantage. He noted China's capabilities in infrastructure and manufacturing, and India's in information technology and pharmaceuticals.

"The combination of 'the world's factory' and 'the world's back office' will produce the most competitive production base and the most attractive consumer market," he wrote.

Modi noted, at a Tuesday press conference, "Whenever India and China have worked and grown together, this has also led to the development and economic prosperity of the world."