Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with her Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng, Beijing (PTI)
Ahead of President Xi Jinping's visit to New Delhi later this month, China today said it is ready to make a joint effort with India to firm up cooperation in trade, investment and infrastructure.
"The aspiration for common development is on the rise and we are ready to make a joint effort with the Indian side to press ahead with our cooperation in various fields including trade, investment and infrastructure," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a media briefing.
He was responding to a question on the talks between Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng in Beijing.
Ms Sitharaman left for New Delhi today after a lengthy round of talks with Mr Gao discussing plans for major Chinese investments in India expected to be announced during Chinese President Xi's visit to India in the third week of September.
China looks to invest in infrastructure projects, especially industrial parks as well as modernisation of the Indian railways.
Before leaving for New Delhi, Ms Sitharaman visited China's Foton Daimler Automotive factory in Beijing.
Foton, which has a unit in Pune, manufactures large scale automobiles including trucks and buses.
"We hope that we can push forward for more fruitful outcomes for mutual benefit and mutual cooperation so as to deliver benefits to our two people. We welcome more and more this kind of cooperation between our two sides," Mr Qin said.