(Yicai Global) Aug. 31 -- China and India achieving economic and trade cooperation and such a large scale is the result of many years of joint effort by the countries' leaders, government departments and companies, Gao Feng, spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, said at a press briefing on Aug. 31.

As two major developing nations, the commerce ministry believes both sides can continue to uphold a pragmatic and open attitude and implement the consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, Gao added, in order to create a positive environment for bilateral economic and trade ties.

China and India are important partners, and their bilateral cooperation is growing steadily, he said. India is China's largest trading partner, investment destination and construction project contracting market in South Asia. The pair's cooperation areas have also expanded. The two countries have also maintained good coordination under the BRICS framework, he added. BRICS refers to five major developing economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Trade between the two nations was USD70.15 billion last year. In the first seven months of this year, the figure was USD47.5 billion, up 21.5 percent from the same period a year ago.

By the end of July 2017, China's total investment in India had reached USD5.6 billion, while India's actually investment in China had reached USD721 million, data from China's commerce ministry shows.