Ⅰ. Personnel Exchanges
Recent years have seen numerous exchanges among senior officials between Chongqing and India. Indian Ambassadors to China have paid several visits to Chongqing. In November 2019, the main officials of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee met with Ambassador Vikram Misri and his retinue in Chongqing. During their visit to the city, Vikram Misri and his retinue attended the local tourism roadshow for India.
In December 2019, Du Liming, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Chongqing Municipal People's Congress, led a delegation to India.
II. Economic and Trade Exchanges
(I) Foreign Trade Exchanges
From January to June 2021, the trade value between Chongqing and India amounted to 8.4billion yuan, a rise of 54.8%. The value of exports reached 6.1 billion yuan, hiking by 49.6%, while imports hit 2.3 billion yuan, marking a 56.8% increase.
In 2020, trade value between the two sides totaled 11.4 billion yuan, a 36.8% jump. It included 10.32 billion yuan in exports and 1.08 billion yuan in imports, up 33.6% and 77.8%, respectively.
Exports mainly comprised motorcycle parts, general-purpose engines, chemical products like diammonium hydrogen phosphate, and electronic information products, especially other portable automatic data processing equipment and parts for handheld cordless telephones (except antennas). The main imported commodities included other dried beans, other unlisted frozen fishes, etc.
(Ⅱ) Foreign Economic Exchanges
As of June 2021, Chongqing has filed a total of seven non-financial investment enterprises from India, with a recorded investment of 97.4 million U. S. dollars, mainly in metal products, machinery and equipment repair industry, computer, communication, and other electronic device manufacturing industries, as well as automobile manufacturing industry.
III. Cultural and Tourism Exchanges
In 2011, as part of the 2011 China-India Exchange Year, Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum prepared 16 collected cultural relics, including terracotta figurines and carved bricks from the Eastern Han Dynasty, to participate in "Treasures of Ancient China," an exhibition co-organized by the Archaeological Survey of India and the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China, in four places of India, such as New Delhi and Mumbai. The museum's exchange events have promoted friendly exchanges and strengthen cultural exchanges between China and India.
IV. Educational Cooperation
In November 2018, Chongqing Technology and Business University signed a formal agreement with India's National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) for in-depth cooperation. The two sides will jointly apply for the establishment of the School of Artificial Intelligence for New Engineering, NIIT, to promote the construction of professional disciplines of the Internet and big data-enabled AI and form a new model of "AI +X" compound professional talent training.
V. Introduction to Former Site of Indian Embassy to China in Chongqing
During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Chongqing, as the wartime capital of China and the command center of the Far East theater of the World Anti-Fascist War, carried out extensive international exchanges while fighting against Japanese fascists in cooperation with peace-loving countries and people in the world. At that time, India inaugurated its Embassy to China in Chongqing. The former site of the embassy is located in the Nanshan Botanical Garden. Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, the former leader of the Indian National Congress, once lived in the villa built for the Indian Embassy to China in 1940. In 1997, it was renovated in its original form. In 2008, the villa was transformed into the library of Nanshan Botanical Garden, including a reading room, a children's reading room, and an electronic reading room. With a collection of 100,000 books mainly on plants for professionals and target units of public outreach, the library is an important place for searching and exchanging expertise and promoting plant knowledge.
VI. Sister Cities
On May 15, 2015, Mayor Huang Qifan and Mayor Saidai S. Duraisamy signed the sister-city agreement between Chongqing and Chennai, India, in the presence of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.