In line with talks of reopening trade along the Silk Route on land, China has mooted the idea of a 21st Century Maritime Silk Route between the two neighbouring countries.
While addressing the China-India Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference 2015 held in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, Zhu Xiaodan, Governor of Guangdong Province said India stood at the intersection of the Silk Road on land and Maritime Silk Route, along which Gujarat used to be an inevitable stop. Guangdong for its part is one of the starting points of the Maritime Silk Route and the strategic hub of the 21st century Maritime Silk Route, said the Governor.
According to him Guangdong would increase import of advantageous products from Gujarat and qualified enterprises will be encouraged from Guangdong to participate in construction of SEZ and industrial parks in India.
"India should also participate in Guangdong's Pilot Free Trade Zone," he said during the two-day event which also witnessed firms from both these provinces, Gujarat and Guangdong, ink 15 memorandum of agreements (MoUs) worth $590 million (approx `3,900 crore) on the first day of the conference. The MoUs were signed in the sectors of infrastructure, energy, agriculture, information technology, electronics and pharmaceuticals.
The conference has been organised with an objective to implement the consensus reached during exchange visits by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China in May this year and Chinese President Xi Jinping to India in September 2014. Both the countries have set a target of achieving a bilateral trade of $100 billion by 2015.