Trade and economic relations between India and its largest trading partner, China, seem poised to enter a new phase where both sides acknowledge a desire for strategic alignment and mutual ambition. China on Friday said it stands ready to work with India to fully leverage the role of bilateral economic and trade cooperation as a “ballast”, while the Indian side also is looking at making the two-way trade more balanced. In a social media post regarding the meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao during the just-concluded 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the spokesperson of the Chinese embassy here said bilateral trade cooperation could be used “for jointly exerting influence on the world”.