Removal of non-tariff barriers will boost pharmaceutical exports from India to China, an Indian industrial body said Sunday.

Indo-Asian News Service quoted the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) as saying that India's export of pharmaceuticals will significantly increase and help the two countries realize the trade target of 30 billion U.S. dollars by 2009 if the two sides can work to reduce non-tariff barriers such as procedural, legal and cultural ones.

According to FICCI, India's exports of drug, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals to China have increased only by 3 percent from 106 million U.S. dollars in 2003-04 to 109 million dollars in 2004- 05.

But India's pharmacy exports to other markets like the United States, Europe, Africa and South America have grown by 19 percent year-on-year in the past three years.

Indian pharmacy companies were held back from the Chinese market due to lack of transparency in information about local markets and trade statistics, FICCI said in a statement.

And other major barriers to the trade were the language and the drug distribution channels in Chinese market, where drug business is mostly done through hospitals.

For the Chinese side they need to set the ground rules right and ensure that the quality standards are maintained in pharmaceutical products, the statement said.

It also recommended for simpler trade financing and greater cooperation between the export-import (EXIM) banks of the two countries.

Source: Xinhua