India and China signed on Tuesday 13 agreements, including one for encouraging two-way investment flows and another for streamlining iron ore exports, as part of efforts to take bilateral ties to a higher orbit.
The 13 agreements, protocols and memoranda of understanding were signed in New Delhi between the two countries in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao.
The Agreement for Promotion and Protection of Investments was signed between Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and his Chinese counterpart Bo Xilai.
"The agreement provides a framework for bilateral investment flows between the two countries, thereby creating favourable conditions for investors of one country to make investments in the other," officials said.
The Agreement on Cooperation in Inspection of Iron Ore was initialed by Nath and Li Changjiang, Administrator of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China.
Changjiang also signed a protocol for streamlining rice exports from India with Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
Accordingly, basmati rice exported to China would comply with Chinese plant quarantine laws and adhere to the relevant measures under the WTO.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his counterpart Li Zhaoxing signed a protocol to open an Indian consulate in Guangzhou and a Chinese consulate in Kolkata.
The Indian Consulate would cover seven Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Hainan, Yunnan, Sichuan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The Chinese Consulate in Kolkata would cover West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
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