Shanghai: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on June 27 expressed confidence over enhanced Sino- Indian trade ties for mutual benefit.

Briefing reporters on the economic content of his talks with the Chinese leadership during his visit, Vajpayee said the decision to establish a Joint Study Group of economists and officials was a particularly significant decision to expand bilateral cooperation in existing areas and its diversification into new areas.

"The joint study group will identify areas of meaningful economic potential and recommend concrete measures to the two governments to facilitate increase in bilateral trade, promote investments and to exploit bilateral and multilateral opportunities for joint economic efforts by India and China," Vajpayee said in a statement before leaving for New Delhi.

Vajpayee, the first Indian Prime Minister to visit China in a decade, noted that India and China have also signed a border trade protocol to add a third border crossing point for trade in Sikkim with the Tibet Autonomous region of China.

"Besides my own interactions with the Chinese leadership, our minister of commerce and industry has had discussions with his counterparts and with other agencies in Beijing," he said.

Vajpayee, who addressed a major IT seminar hosted by NASSCOM (National Association for Software and Service Companies) in Shanghai on June 26, had called for an "effective alliance" between India and China in the IT sector.

PTI