Chinese sailors have been allowed to land at India's ports for rest for the first time in decades, reports Xinhua News Agency.
新华社报道,几十年来中国船员首次获许登上印度港口休息。
Ten sailors from Chinese
cargo1 vessel2 "Houston" landed at a port in Mumbai on Sunday for a rest.
Due to terrorism and other issues, the crews of Chinese
vessels3 and boats from some other countries had been banned from landing after anchoring at Indian ports, said Zheng Xiyuan, Chinese general
consul4 to Mumbai.
"It is very necessary to land and have a rest after longtime sailing," said captain Qiao Qinming of the "Houston," adding "thanks to the good results after
negotiations5 between the two countries, we are glad to be the first
batch6 of sailors to land at an Indian port."
Both China and India have long coastlines. Over 70% of cargo transport in India is completed on the sea. In China,
marine7 transport takes up 90% of total foreign trade transport.
The
bilateral8 trade volume between China and India reached 80 billion US dollars last year.