BEIJING - China and India need to open their markets wider to each other as bilateral trade, though on a steep rise over the past decade, is incommensurate to the two economic giants' market potential, an expert said on Tuesday.

Bilateral trade between China and India grew 23 times between 2000 and 2014, but mutual investment remains relatively small, according to Li Wei, director of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

In the first nine months, India invested only $592 million in China, while China's non-financial investment in India were less than $3.5 billion, Li said.

In the face of prolonged global economic recession, closer collaboration between China, "the world's factory" with an edge in manufacturing and India, "the world's back office" with an advantage in services, can help the two countries move up the global value chain, Li added.