Eight month long Festival of India in China comes to an end

The event initiated by Chinese Ministry of Culture and Indian Council for Cultural Relation featured more than 60 performances in 48 cities across China which were treated with various cultural shows including Bollywood dances.

Simultaneously, India held business seminars at different palaces to familiarise Indian products and companies to make inroads into Chinese markets.

The Festival of India started on April 7 in Beijing during the visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to celebrate the 60th anniversary of China-India diplomatic ties.

A China Festival also kicked off in India on April 21 as part of the celebrations. The closing ceremony of the Festival of India helped to bolster Sichuan's exchanges with India, said Jiang Jufeng, governor of Sichuan.

The festival helped Chinese people to understand India better, Indian Ambassador to China S Jaishankar said in today's meeting.

China-India ties could become one of the world's major economic relationships in the future, he said.

China is India's largest trade partner and India-China trade reached USD 32 billion in the first half of 2010. Overall trade in 2010 is expected to exceed USD 60 billion.