China `conscious` of trade imbalance, Wen tells PM

Hanoi, Oct 29 (PTI) Amid India's concerns over trade
imbalance in favour of China, Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday
assured Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the issue
will be addressed as the two sides expressed confidence about
achieving the bilateral trade target of USD 60 billion by this
year-end.
During their meeting here, Wen told Singh that China is
"conscious" of the trade imbalance and needed to "do
something," Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon
told reporters.
Wen outlined some of the steps that the Chinese
government has taken to address this issue, Menon said.
The NSA said there is some reduction in trade imbalance
"but still imbalance is still there and we will continue to
work on this issue."
India had earlier raised the issue with China during the
Joint Economic Group meeting a few months back in view of lack
of access to Indian services and various goods like pharmaceu-
ticals and had been pushing it to facilitate better movement.
The bilateral trade, which has touched USD 45 billion, is
in favour of China to the tune of about USD 15 billion.
Reviewing the growth of bilateral trade, Singh and Wen
said the two countries were on track to achieve the target of
USD 60 billion by 2010 as set in 2008, as commerce has already
reached USD 45 billion in the first nine months of this year.
Both leaders stressed the importance of good India-China
relations and resolved to work towards that goal "as we have
done over several years in the past," Menon said.