India and China improve bilateral cooperation in various areas

[News_Editor]

India and China improve bilateral cooperation in various areas

2010-12-17 10:37:53 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW DEHLI, INDIA (BNO NEWS) -- India and China on Thursday agreed on strategic consensus to improve bilateral cooperation in various areas such as trade, terrorism, nuclear proliferation and climate change, the Times of India reported.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited India and held a meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmoah Singh. The two emerging world powers rejected any rivalry between them and agreed to continue improving the 60-year-long relationship between the nations.

Wen and Singh also agreed to address bilateral issues such as setting an ambitious trade target of $100 billion by 2015, the stapled visas for residents of Jamu and Kashmir, the widening trade deficit, and global terrorism.

India and China signed six pacts in various fields ranging from media and cultural exchanges to green technologies, the sharing of hydrological data on the Sutlej River and collaboration between each country's financial institutions.

After the meeting, the two leaders agreed there was enough space in the world for India and China to develop and to cooperate in various areas. They also announced the launch of a hot line for urgent consultations between both Prime Ministers.

Wen arrived to India on Wednesday for a three-day visit at the invitation of Singh. This is the first visit of a Chinese premier to India in four years and follows the May visit of Indian President Pratibha Patil to China, the first in a decade.

"I hope my current visit is the one to carry on the past and open a way for future, which will further enhance our win-win cooperation," Wen said.

Singh added: "The growing inter-dependence of nations provides both the opportunity and the obligation for India and China to cooperate together to meet the challenges facing the international community. The fact is that when India and China, representing more than two and half billion people speak in one voice, the world listens."

In April 2005, the two nations signed a joint statement to upgrade their ties to a strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity, an agreement that lifted the bilateral relations to a new level.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the India-China relations. On April 1, 1950, half a year after the People's Republic of China was founded, China and India forged diplomatic relations.

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