Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on November 27 at the Indian Economic Summit 2005 held in New Delhi that China is the head of Asian economy and India has joined the "flying formation" of the Asian economy.

P. Chidambaram said Asia is the dominant force in world economic growth while China and India are the engines of the Asian economy. He said China and India will realize economic growths of 9 percent and 7 percent respectively in 2005 while the world economy will see a 4.3 percent growth. World economic growth benefits, to a large extent, from Asian economic growth.

P. Chidambaram highly appraised China for its economic achievement. He said China attracted over $60 billion foreign direct investment last year while India absorbed only a fraction of that number. To sustain economic growth India must improve infrastructure so as to attract foreign investment.

Speaking of India's sustainable development P. Chidambaram said to sustain an 8 percent economic growth India must step up construction of water conservancy infrastructure, bring in private businesses in the industrialization of agriculture and establish agro-product supply chain. In the industrial area India must increase effort at research and development of new products and technologies while attracting a great deal of foreign direct investment.

By People's Daily Online