India offers fresh tariff concessions to China

NEW DELHI: The union cabinet on Saturday followed up on the just-concluded China visit of Prime Minister Vajpayee by offering fresh tariff concessions to Beijing under the Bangkok Agreement.
The tariff concessions are expected to be reciprocated by China, leading to a rise in exports of major items like chemicals, leather, textiles and diamonds to China.
The concessions will be available for about 700 items, which constitute about 30 per cent of Indian exports. China would offer concessions to 182 tariff lines and India would extend such concessions to 217 tariff lines.
The measure was announced by ministers, Arun Shourie and Sushma Swaraj at separate briefings to the reporters. The cabinet also gave ex-post-facto approval to the Indo-Afghan trade agreement signed this March during the visit of President Hamid Karzai.