Premier Wen
Jiabao held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in
New Delhi on Monday, resulting in a joint statement and a
declaration of the establishment of a strategic cooperative
partnership for peace and prosperity.
Singh expressed a warm welcome to Wen
and said his visit, as they mark the 55th anniversary of the
establishment of diplomatic relations, is a milestone.
The two leaders reached common views
on expanding friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide
range of fields and signed an agreement on political guiding
principles for solving border issues.
The Indian prime minister said that
developing relations with China is important to his country not
only from the view of bilateral relations, but also from a regional
and world perspective.
He said promotion of exchange and
cooperation is not only the desire of the people of India, but is
necessary to ensure their development and welfare.
Wen made a six-point proposal to:
politically clarify the status of relations; widen exchange and
cooperation; deepen economic and trade cooperation; expand cultural
and people-to-people exchange; establish mutual trust in security;
and speed up negotiations on border demarcation.
Singh agreed, adding that India wants
to work together with China to make their border a link of peace
and friendship.
Wen welcomed efforts by India and
Pakistan to improve their relations, and said China is not seeking
any interests of its own in South Asia and that its promotion of
relations there is not against any third party. He added that China
will play a constructive role in promoting peace and
development.
The two leaders also attended the
signing of a number of agreements on cooperation in fields
including finance and civil aviation.
(Xinhua News Agency April 12,
2005)
