Commerce Minister Anand Sharma has said, China has assured India that it will open sectors like Information Technology, pharmaceuticals and contract of government for Indian companies, a move which is assigned to reduce the USD 20 billion trade.

Sharma asked for greater market access for Indian products in the Chinese market, in an unscheduled meeting with his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming in Vietnam last week. In 2009-10, India’s import to China stood at USD 30.79billion while, export to China were USD 11.61 billion, and it left a huge gap of around USD 19.18 billion.

Sharma said, “The kind of trade deficit which we have with China is untenable and unsustainable”. He said, “We have asked for more access. China has a huge programme on procurement of pharmaceutical and the Indian companies should get access to government contracts and IT sector. It has enough space for the same. I have been assured that this will happen”.

For the India-Asian Economic Minister Meet, the minister was in Vietnam, emphasised India’s concerns on the trade gap which has “registered well with the Chinese leadership at the highest level”. China has asserted recently that it is keen to import more and more products from India. Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Chen Jian had said, “… the Chinese government wants more and more products imported from India”.