Chinese premier: talks with Indian PM 'fruitful'

Chinese Premier Li Keqiangsaid Wednesday that he and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had in-depth talks on enhancing mutual trust and cooperation, reaching fruitful results.

Li made the remarks to the press together with Singh after holding talks and attending the signing ceremony of a set of documents on Wednesday morning in the Great Hall of the People.

He said the two countries agreed to maintain the momentum of regular contacts and exchange of high-level visits.

The two sides will issue a joint statement on the future development of the China-India strategic and cooperative partnership later on Wednesday, the premier added.

They also signed an agreement on border defense cooperation, which would be conducive to the peace and stability of border areas, according to Li.

He also mentioned that China and India agreed to hold a joint counter-terrorism exercise in southwest China, and to launch a dialogue of maritime cooperation at an early date.

On economic and trade cooperation, the two sides agreed to make full use of the mechanism on strategic and economic dialogue so as to advance cooperation on trade and investment together.

China would like to enhance cooperation with India on infrastructure construction, including railways, so as to push forward the development of the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) Economic Corridor, he said.

The leaders also discussed the construction of a Chinese industrial park in India so as to ease the trade imbalance between the two countries.

Regarding cultural and people-to-people exchange, Li said China and India will make 2014 a Year of Friendly Exchange. They will also discuss with Myanmar ways of commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (known in India as the Panchsheel Treaty).

In addition, the two leaders witnessed the signing of an agreement on three sister cities.

Li described this as "a new breakthrough in the bilateral friendly exchange," and a move that "will surely promote local and people-to-people cooperation between the two countries."

Singh arrived in Beijing on Tuesday night for a three-day official visit to China. This is the second time that Li and Singh have met since the former's visit to India in May.

It is the first time since 1954 that a Chinese premier and an Indian prime minister have exchanged visits within the same calendar year.

"Both leaders fully recognized the important roles of China and India in the world and agreed that China-India relations are one of the most important bilateral ties in the world," said Luo Zhaohui, director-general of the Asian Department of the Foreign Ministry of China, after attending the closed-door talks.

The population of China and India, two major emerging countries and populous countries, accounts for a third of the world's population, he noted, telling journalists, "The prosperity of China and India will be the prosperity of a third of the world's population."