The CEOs of a host of Indian businesses and industries in China have expressed concern over the continuing COVID-19 related visa and travel restrictions being pursued by Beijing which they say are hampering their activities.
They expressed their concern during their interaction with the Indian Ambassador to China, Vikram Misri.
Misri, who is on a visit to Shanghai, inaugurated on Friday the Amrut Mahotsav festival, marking the 75 years of India's independence.
“Inaugurated India@75 #AmrutMahotsav in #Shanghai. A soulful rendition of #Upanishad & #Gita, melodious Sitar/Tabla performance, #Deshbhakti songs, films on musical traditions of #Varanasi & #VaccineMaitri marked the occasion," Misri tweeted.
He also interacted with a group of CEOs and representatives of the Indian businesses based in and around Shanghai, the business hub of China.
Over 30 officials representing eight sectors such as textiles, pharma, electronics, manufacturing, chemicals and IT etc attended the meeting with Misri.
“Interacted with the Indian industry representatives based in Shanghai. Business leaders representing various sectors including #IT, #Pharma, #textiles, #engineering, Manufacturing, #foodprocessing, #banking etc participated in discussions”, Misri said in another tweet.
In their interaction with Misri, the CEOs stated they were experiencing difficulties in operations, mostly on account of travel and visa restrictions being maintained by China as part of its COVID-19 measures, official sources here told PTI.
Misri assured them the Indian Embassy will continue to engage with the Chinese government on the issues related to the travel restrictions, the sources said.
Travel between India and China has been halted since Beijing imposed travel restrictions in November last year and suspended the visas and resident permits held by Indian citizens.
These restrictions left over 23,000 Indian students and hundreds of Indian businessmen, employees and their families stranded in India.