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President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, who is on a visit to China, said on Sunday that unless market access for Indian pharmaceutical, engineering and information technology companies improves, trade relations between India and China, which is under strain at present, would continue to worsen. During her meeting here with the ruling Communist Party's Shanghai chief Yu Zhengsheng, Patil said it was important for Beijing to focus on trade imbalances and market access issues. Briefing media persons about the meeting, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao underlined that India wanted more market access in China in fields like engineering goods, IT (Information and Technology), IT enabled services, agricultural products and commodities, and added that this issue has been well conveyed to the Chinese leadership during Patil's visit. The trade relationship between the two countries has been seen as a crucial driver of overall bilateral relations amid persisting political strains over the long-pending border dispute. India's recent restrictions on the import of Chinese telecom equipment in light of security concerns, has added to the list of strains. Responding to a question on the dumping of Chinese goods in Indian markets, Rao said there are many corrective measures in place to check such practices. "There are a number of anti-dumping investigations also on Chinese products coming into India. And , there are also safeguard duties that are placed on Chinese goods. Whenever we see a surge which is likely to affect our industry adversely, corrective measures are taken," she said. Earlier, during the last leg of her China visit, Patil visited the Indian pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, which is being described as the biggest and most expensive in exhibition history. She also unveiled a statue of Rabindranath Tagore in the heart of old-town Shanghai, China's financial capital. Tagore had visited Shanghai in the 1920s and left a strong influence on a whole generation of Chinese intellectuals and writers.

President Patil calls for greater market access for Indian goods in Chinese market