The economic and trade relations between China and India have maintained a steady growth momentum and have a large room for cooperation, a Chinese official said Thursday.
The comments came amid concerns that about the prospects of Sino-Indian economic and trade ties after India withdrew troops and equipment from Dong Lang (Doklam) on Monday after a military stand-off that lasted more than two months.
"China and India are each other's important economic and trade partners and bilateral cooperation has maintained a steady growth momentum," Gao Feng, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), told the Global Times at a regular press conference.
China is India's largest trade partner in the world and India is China's largest trade partner, investment destination and project contract market in South Asia area, Gao said.
The cooperation between the two nations has advanced to more sectors and the scale has grown, the spokesman said, adding that China and India have achieved sound coordination under the cooperative framework of BRICS countries.
Total trade volume between China and India stood at $70.15 billion in 2016 and that amount rose 21.5 percent year-on-year to $47.52 billion from January to July this year, according to MOFCOM data.
Cumulative investment in India from Chinese companies reached $5.06 billion by the end of July. India's cumulative investment in the Chinese markets was $721 million during the same period, Gao noted.
"We could say that Sino-Indian economic and trade cooperation has strong complementarity and large growth potential," he said.
The current situation of Sino-Indian economic and trade relations have been promoted by efforts from leaders, governments and companies from the two nations, according to Gao.
As two large developing countries, China and India could adhere to a pragmatic and open attitude to implement the consensus of leaders from both countries, he said, noting that China and India could create sound environment for bilateral economic and trade cooperation to realize mutual benefit and common development.
