The Fourth NITI Aayog- DRC Dialogue Held in Mumbai

Mumbai:1/11/18:The Fourth Dialogue of the NITI Aayog – Development Research Centre (DRC) of the State Council, Peoples’ Republic of China was held in Mumbai today. The Chinese delegation was led by Mr. Li Wei, President of DRC and the Indian delegation was led by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog. This is the second ministerial dialogue between China and India since the meeting of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Johannesburg during the BRICS summit in July 2018.

In his opening remarks, Dr Rajiv Kumar highlighted that the NITI-DRC Dialogue is a strong platform for continuous intellectual engagement between the two countries, wherein inputs from sectoral experts help identify and collaborate on key areas of India-China economic cooperation.

Senior delegates from China and India Administration, representatives of government, academia and enterprises participated in the deliberations, which included sessions on Global Economy, Globalisation and Macro-Economic Policies in China and India; Innovation and Economic Transformation, and Potential for Sino-India Trade and Economic Cooperation.

As part of the Dialogue, the DRC delegation also participated in technical field visits in Mumbai and Bengaluru where they visited leading industrial leaders, technical universities, research centers and innovation and IT ecosystems established in India.

After detailed presentations and in-depth discussions, both sides affirmed their commitment for a more inclusive and truly global world order, with multilateralism as the preferred way forward.Emphasis was also laid on innovation and digital economy and it was observed that India and China are poised to become global leaders in digital innovation with rising number of tech startups operating in various sectors. On electric mobility, with India envisioning to move towards EVs and ZEVs by 2030, as also showcased by the Global Mobility Summit recently organized by NITI Aayog, avenues for collaboration via joint research and development, public and private investment were discussed.

Both sides also agreed to examine various trade sector related issues, and the need for enhanced policy coordination to facilitate investments.It was also agreed that NITI Aayog and DRC will undertake joint research in the areas of WTO reforms, urbanization and frontier technologies, which would be presented in the next Dialogue.

The Fifth edition of the NITI – DRC Dialogue will be held in Wuhan, China in November, 2019.