China, India Agree To Deepen Strategic Partnership
By KUNA
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday agreed to further deepen China-India strategic partnership of cooperation so as to push forward the development of the two countries, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
Hu and Singh met in Sanya City of south China’s Hainan Province on the sidelines of BRICS Leaders Meeting scheduled for Thursday there.
As China and India designated the year of 2011 as the “Year of China-India Exchange,” Hu told Singh the two sides should take this opportunity to broaden communication and cooperation in various fields and to elevate the bilateral ties to a new height, according to Xinhua.
“The two countries should expand exchanges between governments, legislative bodies and political parties,” Hu was quoted as saying.
The president also suggested that China and India will hold the first meeting under the strategic and economic dialogue mechanism as soon as possible in order to actively promote cooperation in fields such as infrastructure, information technology, investment, project contracting and banking sector to achieve a win-win result.
Hu also expressed hope that the two countries will solve differences properly and safeguard peace and stability.
“We should consider setting up a consultation and coordination mechanism on border issues so as to achieve consensus as soon as possible and to better maintain peace and stability at the border regions before the issues are solved.” said Hu.
China is India’s largest trade partner. Bilateral trade jumped to USD 61.8 billion last year from USD 18.7 billion in 2005.
