China bows to Indian demand for pharmaceutical market access

After much deliberation, China has finally agreed to initiate the process of opening up the pharmaceutical market for Indian companies, reports the Times of India. It has also promised to enhance buying to correct the trade imbalance created by low imports from India. India's annual exports to China are about $11 billion, while China exports goods worth $27 billion to India, it was noted.

Chinese leaders, including the country's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, last week indicated to visiting Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma that the government was prepared to revise its overall approach to trade with India. Premier Wen even stated that healthy trade growth was essential for developing strong strategic relationship.

Mr Sharma told Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Demin that the Indian government has amended visa rules on foreign workers on the basis of requests made by Beijing. Though the rules apply to companies from all countries, it is Chinese firms that will gain most as they are usually keen to send out more workers.

He added that there were procedural bottlenecks, including time consuming licensing procedures, being faced by Indian drugs and pharmaceuticals, which needed to be removed, according to a report of the meeting by the Indian Economic Times. During the joint economic group meeting, an India-China memorandum of understanding on expansion of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries was signed, which provides for the Chinese side to import as much of its requirement of value-added goods from India as possible. China is India's largest trade partner, while India is China's 10th largest partner.