The world’s two most populous nations, India and China signed a long-awaited film co-production agreement on Thursday.
The agreement was signed by India’s minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar and Cai Fuchao, Minister, State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television for China.
“The agreement would enable the producers from both countries to get an opportunity to pool their creative, artistic, technical, financial and marketing resources to co-produce films. It would help Indian audio-visual products to gain greater market access,” the Indian ministry said in a statement.
India now has co-production agreements with nine countries including the U.K., France and Canada. All these countries will be invited to the International Film Festival of India that runs November 20-30 in Goa. This year, the festival will have a focus on Chinese cinema.
The agreement was one of several signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India, where he had several discussions with recently elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Our agreements and announcements today demonstrate that people-to-people contacts, culture, tourism and art are central to our efforts to strengthen our partnership,” Modi said at a joint press briefing with Xi.