Sino-Indian relations at new historical starting point: Chinese Ambassador Wei Wei

India and China relations are at a new historical starting point after installation of Narendra Modi government at Centre and there is a need to expand mutually beneficial economic cooperation between the two countries, the Chinese Ambassador to India Wei Wei said today.

Launching the Tebian Electric Apparatus Stock Co (TBEA) plant at Karjan, about 40 km from here, the Chinese Ambassador also said that his country is according high importance to the visit of Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari as the latter is the first top Indian dignitary to visit China after the change of government in New Delhi.
Ansari on Thursday left on a five-day visit to China where he will hold bilateral discussions with his counterpart Li Yuanchao and attend events to mark the 60th anniversary of Panchsheel agreement.

"India and China should further enhance friendliness and harmony and expand mutually beneficial economic cooperation as Sino-Indian relations are standing at a new historical starting point after inauguration of Narendra Modi-led government in Delhi about a month ago," Wei Wei said in his address as the chief guest on the occasion.
He said that India and China should strengthen cooperation mainly in the two aspects of infrastructure construction and in the manufacturing industry park.
"China will look to further strengthen the bilateral ties ahead of the Modi-Xi (Jinping, the Chinese President) meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) in Brazil next month," Wei Wei said.

The USD 200 million plant by the Chinese firm, TBEA Energy (India) is a Green Energy Park near Karjan town and is part of Gujarat government's move to attract more Chinese investments.

The then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi had led a delegation comprising leading industrialists to China in 2011 and explored avenues for attracting more investment in Gujarat from the world's second largest economy.

China's Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi had recently visited India and met President Pranab Mukherjee as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"Yi had also interacted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and expressed China's readiness to strengthen cooperation with the Indian government to further promote the bilateral relationship between two countries and Indian government gave a positive response," Wei Wei said.

Referring to Ansari's visit, Wei Wei said, "there are high expectations in both the countries given Prime Minister Narendra Modi's familiarity with the Chinese leadership as he had visit China four times as Chief Minister of Gujarat." "China is willing to work with various Indian states, including Gujarat, to strengthen the infrastructure cooperation in the fields of railways, highway, water supply, power, telecommunication, etc," the ambassador said.

Wei Wei said that Gujarat can be one of the first batches of states to establish Chinese industrial parks and forge joint ventures with the Chinese companies or provinces.
"Chinese style industrial park will attract more Chinese investors...The investment of TBEA Energy India in Gujarat is the successful example for the Chinese companies, to establish in India," he said.

TBEA is the core enterprise of China's major electrical equipment manufacturing industry and is the first listed transformer enterprise of that country. The enterprise group has been accredited by the Chinese Government and is in the business of transmission, transformation, new energy and advanced materials.

The inauguration of the plant was followed by flagging off trucks carrying four transformers -- with collective capacity of 765 KV -- to various power station sites in the country, which was attended by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Patel among other dignitaries.

Speaking on the occasion, Patel invited more Chinese companies to participate in the Global Vibrant Gujarat Industries Summit to be held in Gandhinagar in January 2015.
"The summit will provide opportunities to them (Chinese firms) to understand the friendly investment policy of Gujarat," she said.

"With a total installed power capacity of more than 19,000 MW, Gujarat is a power surplus state and does not impose any restrictions on the use of power on customers, including industries," the chief minister said, adding that launching of the TBEA plant has helped many local youths to get jobs.

"After the expansion of this plant, more employment opportunities will be created for youths," she said.