Beijing, July 9: Months after it was decided to increase the import of Indian rice, sugar and pharmaceuticals at the informal summit between President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China on Monday announced the slashing of tariffs imposed on Indian medicines, particularly the cancer-fighting drugs.

The announcement was welcomed by the Indian pharmaceutical sector, which had been pushing for easing of norms by Beijing for importing drugs from India. As per the statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the duties on medicinal imports will be slashed down by 33 per cent.

China has still not cleared whether it would allow the market to be directly accessed by the Indian medicine majors.

The move to bring down tariff on cancer drugs brings rejoice to the Chinese populace as well, since as significant section of the population gets diagnosed by the life-threatening disease each year.

According to the state-run China Central Television, nearly 4.3 million Chinese citizens are diagnosed with cancer annually. In such a scenario, the medicins being imported from Europe and the United States of America cause a severe financial strain on the people.

Compared to the medicines sold by the Western nations, the Indian cancer drugs are way more cheaper while being equally effective.

The lifting of tariffs will also allow the Indian government to address the wide trade deficit with China. New Delhi is pushing for to reduce over USD 51 billion trade deficit in over USD 84 billion bilateral trade.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the decision to slash down import duties was in accordance to the resolution adopted under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement.

“We have decided to expand our imports as well as opening up. This is what China needs in order to uphold the free trade and against protectionism. This is also in keeping up with our own pace of development and opening up, Chunying said.

“On July 1, the outcome of the round of negotiations under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement released a document and we have agreed to slash tariffs by 33 per cent. So according to my understanding the slashing of tariffs by the Indian side is also part of this negotiation...We will also impose a negotiated agreed tariff rate on relevant items in accordance with our regulations,” she added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 09, 2018 06:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).