Kolkata: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China has set up a new milestone in the bilateral relation between the two countries, Chinese ambassador in India Zhang Yan said here today.

China became India's second biggest trading partner and the bilateral trade between the two countries was slated to touch $60 billion from the present level of around $38 billion, Yan said at the International steel seminar here. Stating that China and India were the partners in development instead of being rivals, the ambassador said that there was enough scope for the two nations to grow together.

He said that in the area of steel India and China could work in partnership. China, he said, was the number one in steel production in the world with 489 million tonne production in 2007 and the country was also the net exporter of steel.

China had exported over 54 million tonne of steel during 2007, he said.

Source : PTI