China, India must grasp fresh opportunities: Li(2)

Li noted that China's 30-plus years of development and progress have benefited from its policy of peaceful development.

"China will always be a steadfast guardian of world peace. It is ready to work with India and other South Asian countries to take its due responsibility to realize regional peace and development in order to make the Asian continent a place of peace, development and cooperation," said Li.

Li said his country has been sticking to the long-term strategic policy of developing friendly relations with India.

Li called on both sides to always view their relations from a strategic and overall perspective, and firmly establish the principles of not threatening and containing the other and being each other's cooperative partner.

They should also strengthen mutual understanding and trust, and dispel doubts to consolidate the foundation of their strategic and political mutual trust, he said.

China is willing to join efforts with India to constantly inject fresh connotation into their strategic cooperative partnership and lift bilateral cooperation to a higher level.

Li pointed out that the most promising domain in China-India relations is pragmatic cooperation, urging the two sides to make an effective combination of China's westward opening-up and India's Look East policies to promote extensive cooperation and push bilateral trade to new heights.

The two-way trade volume stood at 66.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2012. China is now India's second largest trade partner, while India is China's biggest partner in South Asia. The two sides aim to expand bilateral trade to 100 billion dollars by 2015, a goal set by the two countries' leaders.

The towering mountains cannot stop the Chinese and Indian peoples from admiring and yearning for each other's splendid cultures, Li said, calling on Beijing and New Delhi to boost cultural and people-to-people cooperation at various levels, so that the China-India friendship could pass on from generation to generation.

Li also said China sees India as an important cooperative partner on international affairs, noting that Asia and the world cannot be strong without the cooperation and common development of China and India.

"The world will listen to us if China and India speak with one voice," Li said.

So long as China and India take an overall prospective and cooperate with each other, they can help open up a bright future of development and prosperity for Asia and the world at large, Li concluded.

Li's speech was met by warm applause from an audience of 500 people from all walks of life, among whom were Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, senior government officials and parliamentarians.

The world-renowned Indian Council of World Affairs was established in 1943 as a think tank.