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New Delhi: Chinese
President Hu Jintao touches down here Wednesday on a two-day visit
to participate in the BRICS summit and hold bilateral talks with
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India is expected to press China
for addressing the issue of trade imbalance during the talks.
At the BRICS summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa Thursday, Hu is expected to pitch for reforming global
governance and push for internationalization of local currencies
of the five-member grouping to promote greater intra-BRICS trade.
This will be the last visit to India by Hu as China goes in for a
leadership succession later this year. He last came to India in
2006.
The Chinese president will be accompanied by a high-profile
delegation comprising Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, State
Councillor Dai Bingguo, senior ministers and business leaders.
Hu has a packed schedule in India, including a bilateral meeting
with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday before
participating in the BRICS summit next day.
Hu, along with the presidents of Russia, Brazil and South Africa,
will attend a gala banquet and cultural programme hosted by
Pratibha Patil in the evening.
After the summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold
bilateral talks Thursday with the Chinese president that will
encompass the entire gamut of the bilateral relationship.
The two leaders are expected to declare 2012 as the year of the
India-China friendship and unveil some initiatives for bolstering
cultural exchanges and people-to-people contacts.
India is expected to raise the issue of huge imbalance in
bilateral trade which has exceeded $70 billion with trade surplus
heavily in China's favour.
Hu will speak at the plenary session of the 4th BRICS summit
Thursday where he is expected to highlight China's position on
global governance, sustainable development and ways to ramp up
intra-BRICS trade and investment.
"China is ready to work with other BRICS members at the coming
meeting to intensify dialogue and cooperation in a broad range of
fields such as international economy, finance, trade and
development in a gradual and pragmatic manner," the Chinese
foreign ministry said Tuesday.
Beijing, which holds over $3 trillion in foreign exchange
reserves, has been pushing for internationalisation of local
currencies of BRICS countries.
"China is quite positive about the internationalisation of its
currency. China has been promoting trade settlement in yuan and
yuan-denominated loans. China is keen to work with BRICS countries
in this area," Li Zhongmin, a BRICS specialist at the influential
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters here.
When asked whether the differences between India and China will
hold back the potential of BRICS, Li said business and economic
cooperation is the best way to address difficulties in bilateral
relationships.
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