"Earlier, garlic had been exported and now we are sending potatoes. Our profits have substantially increased. If this continues, we will benefit a lot," claimed Uppal.

India's Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, (ASSOCHAM), has predicted that two-way trade could reach 10 billion dollars within five years of the signing of a free trade agreement.

The relations between these two have witnessed a new thaw in the last 20 months. India ranks number four in the potato production in the world. According to the latest FAO data (FAOSTAT, September 1998), potato production worldwide stands at 293 million tons and covers more that 18 million hectares. With the break-up of the former Soviet Union, China is now the world's largest potato producer. Potatoes are widely grown in India, but the greatest concentration by far occurs along the Indo-Gangetic Plain to the northeast, where most potatoes are grown during the short winter days from October to March. Potato cultivation in the south is generally limited by an excessively hot climate.

Areas of high relative concentration of potato cultivation include Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar accounting for more than 75 per cent of area under cultivation and about 80 per cent of total production. Punjab to the west and adjacent to Pakistan, cultivates potatoes on roughly seven per cent of the state's total agricultural area. (ANI)