China and India will strengthen cooperation in the financial industry, said Wu Xiaoling, vice governor of the country's central bank on Wednesday.

Wu made the remarks at a Sino-Indian financial summit held in western India's Bombay.

The vice governor said China's financial industry will pay equal attention to competition and cooperation, aiming to find a win-win solution for both sides.

She said the country will give foreign financial institutions special treatment and boost competition between domestic and foreign companies.

Wu also encouraged Chinese financial institutions to sharpen their competitive edge in the international market by cooperating with foreign institutions.

The vice governor pointed out China's financial sector needs to improve its industrial structure, management capacity and risk control capability.

These tasks will be implemented partly through international communication and cooperation, said Wu.

China and India face similar challenges on the path of development and should enhance cooperation in the financial industry, she said.

Jayant Patil, Finance Minister of India's Maharashtra agreed with Wu, saying the GDP of the two countries accounted for 50 percent of the world's total in the nineteenth century but the proportion dropped to 1 percent in the twentieth century.

He also said the two sides should strengthen cooperation in the financial industry.

Statistics with the central bank show China and India have enjoyed fast growing economic and trade cooperation since the mid 1990's. Bilateral trade volume reached US$25 billion in 2006. It is expected the two sides will register a trade volume of US$40 billion in 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2007)