The rise of India and China on the global economic platform is fast emerging as the biggest international challenge for US and European companies. The latter are now forced to consider a joint fight against this competition.

While a consensus eludes on a broader trans-Atlantic cooperation, the companies in the US and Europe think such an agreement will provide a platform to fight China and India, said a survey of CEOs from the two regions.

According to the survey carried out by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants for the German business magazine think:act, the trans-Atlantic cooperation is finding widespread support among Europe's top managers, but is being met with skepticism in the US.

"While 95 per cent of European decision-makers would like to see a close cooperation of the two economic regions, about 40 per cent CEOs in the US consider such a cooperation unimportant," the survey found.

However, CEOs of both the US and European companies agree that China and India present the greatest competition and extension of trans-Atlantic relations would serve as a strong platform to fight this situation, it added.

The offensive from China and India is high on executives' lists in Europe (54 per cent) and the US (50 per cent), said the findings of the survey, which would be published in the next issue of the quarterly magazine produced by BurdaYukom Publishing GmbH.