China and India, the world's two largest developing countries, have enjoyed frequent economic exchanges over the past several years and can expect more trade cooperation in the future, said First Secretary (Economic & Commercial) K. Nagaraj Naidu of the Indian Embassy in China.

Speaking to China.org.cn at the 2010 India-China Development Forum in Beijing on Tuesday, Naidu said trade has been progressing steadily over the years, with the real growth taking off when the two countries signed the Declaration on Principles for Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation in 2003.

Naidu says the bilateral trade volume soared to US$52 billion in 2008. Last year witnessed a drop due to the global economic crisis, but already in the first two months of 2010, trade has reached US$9 billion and seems to be bouncing back.

India's IT industry serves as a crucial trade link between India and China. The composition of India's software and China's hardware matches perfectly, Naidu pointed out. India offers a lot of opportunities to Chinese companies and there are many manufacturers now cooperating with Indian IT companies.

Naidu also sees room for cooperation in other areas, such as infrastructure development. India is a large country with a flat territory that is suitable for building railways. Building a high-speed railway network like China's would allow Indians to live in suburban areas and work in the cities, a potential solution for city traffic. By focusing on such development projects, Naidu predicts that India's annual economic growth rate could be increased from the current 8 percent to 10 percent in the next few years.

Talking about the Chinese and Indian billionaires on the Forbes rich list, Naidu said the statistics don't mean the countries are getting any richer. China now has more billionaires than any country outside the US, and India's billionaires are richer than their foreign counterparts. Although it's good to see more billionaires in Asia, there's still a large poor population. Naidu said that since most of the billionaires' money is in the stock market, they will lose both their money and billionaire status when the economy drops.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India. The China-India Development Forum aims to further develop cultural and economic ties.

"It is a very important session in this very important year. Both countries could learn a lot from each other and get improved. The forward-looking topics could further promote our cooperation in the coming years. It's a very nice beginning, and I hope that China and India should have more interactions in the future," Naidu said.

(China.org.cn by Xu Lin, Wang Ke March 31, 2010)