Chinese president meets Indian prime minister
- Source: Xinhua
- [11:40 June 16 2009]
- Comments
Chinese President Hu Jintao met Monday in Yekaterinburg with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Hu said China has always striven, steadfastly and from a strategic and long-term perspective, to promote goodneighborliness and friendly cooperation with India, an important neighbor of China and also a fast-growing emerging power.
The Chinese side is ready to work with the Indian side to maintain the sound momentum for development of the bilateral strategic and cooperative partnership, make greater efforts to implement the "10 strategies" reached between the leaders of the two countries, enhance mutual political trust and reciprocal cooperation in various fields, take into consideration each other's concerns and core interests, and strengthen coordination and cooperation on major international and regional issues, said Hu.
He noted that the two sides should focus on the following key areas in efforts to promote bilateral ties.
The first is to strengthen high-level contacts. The Chinese side welcomes Indian President Pratibha Patil to visit China in the latter half of this year, and Chinese leaders are considering visiting India at a time convenient to both sides.
The Chinese side agreed in principle to establish a hot line between the Chinese premier and the Indian prime minister.
The second is to deepen bilateral economic and trade cooperation of mutual benefit. The two sides should continue to tap potentials, encourage two-way investments, expand cooperation in contracted projects, and strive to realize the target of 60 billion US dollars in bilateral trade in the year 2010.
The third is to work together to respond to the impact of the international financial crisis. The Chinese side will strengthen communication and coordination with the Indian side, maintain close cooperation within the frameworks of BRIC, the five developing nations and the Group of 20, safeguard the common interests of the developing countries, and strive to contribute to economic recovery and development of Asia and the world at large.
The fourth is to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation which is an important component of overall bilateral cooperation. The two sides should make concerted efforts to strengthen cooperation in this regard.
The fifth is to strengthen cultural exchanges. Both sides should make good planning and preparations for a series of activities, such as those marking the 60th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and concerning The Chinese Festival in India and the Indian Festival in China. Both sides will continue to receive each other's delegations consisting of young people, officials, and people from news media and different localities, promote friendly exchanges in various fields and at various levels through visa facilitation and increasing direct air flights.
On border issues, Hu expressed the hope that the two sides would continue to advance the negotiating process in the spirit of peace and friendship, equal consultations, mutual respect and mutual accommodation so that the border issues could be properly resolved at an early date.
Both sides should do their utmost to ensure that the border issues do not undermine the overall situation of bilateral ties, he said.
Before these issues are eventually resolved, both sides should make joint efforts for maintaining peace and tranquility along the border region, he said.
With the efforts of both sides, Hu said, the Sino-Indian strategic and cooperative partnership will see sound development and the growth of bilateral relations will bring benefits to the two peoples.