Monday, April 11 2005 16:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: India and China today (Apr 11, 2005) agreed to raise bilateral trade by $ 7 billion to $ 20 billion by 2008 even as Beijing hinted at opening up markets for Indian rice.

Besides agreeing to work together in energy security and strengthen cooperation in the WTO, both the countries also decided to support an "open, fair, equitable and transparent rule-based multilateral trade system", said a joint statement signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Chinese premier Wen Jiabao after their talks in New Delhi.

"The two countries agreed to make joint efforts to increase the bilateral trade volume to $ 20 billion or higher by 2008," the statement said.

At present, the bilateral trade between the two countries stands at about $ 13 billion.

"China positively evaluated market access to Indian rice in the Chinese market and will launch as early as possible the risk analysis procedure of the Indian rice in accordance with relevant Chinese laws and regulations," the statement said.

The decision to increase bilateral trade follows a report of the Joint Study Group (JSG) that was set up to examine the potential complementarities between the two countries in expanded trade and economic cooperation.

Identifying a series of measures related to trade in goods and services, investment and other areas of economic tie-ups, the JSG recommended expeditious implementation to remove the impediments and facilitate enhanced economic engagement between India and China.