On Sunday, a Western speaker on one of the panels expressed concern that the rapid economic growth of China and India over the coming decades “will outstrip our countries’ ability to adjust.”

But while the world may be in for a shock, Chinese and Indian speakers at this morning’s breakfast panel were confident that these two rising economic powers should be able to construct a win-win relationship. A detailed summary of the session is here. All panelists vehemently disagreed with any suggestion that India and China might find themselves competing head-to-head for markets, foreign investment dollars, or resources. Ashok Jha, Secretary of India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said that the future “is not India versus China. It is India and China.” There was much discussion of how the two countries’ complementary strengths can help fuel each others’ growth. Were they perhaps a little overly optimistic?

One question we did not have time to address is the extent to which India and China might coordinate strategy on global trade issues. There is growing political resistance in the U.S. and elsewhere to outsourcing and “exporting of jobs” to India and China. Will the two countries increasingly coordinate strategy to deal with this? Will they join forces on trade disputes? Might they even coordinate economic and financial policies??

Several commentators at this summit have supported the idea that China and India should be more fully integrated into international economic and financial governance bodies like the IMF and G7, given their impact on the global economy. Would that bring India and China even closer together?

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