Kanwal Sibal : Trade and economic relation is the area, which needs more attention. Just for comparison, our trade withChina few years ago was USD 200 million, which now has grown up to USD 6 billion dollars. Bilateral trade ofIndia with the United States, a strong economic partner, is USD 26 billion. Bilateral trade with Russia is USD1.2 billion dollars, which is as much as our trade with Sri Lanka. We have a very strong cooperation in thefield of defence, which is a very important area of cooperation, but should not be the only field. The task infront of us is to take our bilateral trade (from rupee - rouble) to a freely convertible currency, simplifycustom procedures, develop transport corridors, create of banking channels, allow faster and effectivetransfer of funds etc.
As far as new areas of cooperation are concerned then - fight against international terrorism is one of themand during the meeting of two leaders this area will assume a significance place.