China, India pledge closer ties for common development

China and India pledged Wednesday to boost their ties and seek common development as the South Asian country's foreign minister paid a visit to Beijing.

 

Indian External Affairs Minister Shri S.M. Krishna is on his China trip to inaugurate the South Asian country's new embassy complex in Beijing. However, analysts say that his task is much more than that.

 

Krishna said at the inauguration ceremony Wednesday night that "a modern and expansive chancery clearly reflects our expectations of ties with China."

 

Earlier Wednesday, Krishna met with four high-ranking Chinese officials in Beijing, including Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, State Councilor Dai Bingguo, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, and Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee.

 

Ma Jiali, an India expert and executive deputy director of the Center for Strategic Studies of the China Reform Forum, said that the meetings showed that both China and India "attach great importance to and have great enthusiasm for" the development of the bilateral relationship.

 

During his meeting with the Indian foreign minister, Zhou said China and India, as the world's largest developing economies, have multiple opportunities for national development and bilateral cooperation, expressing his hope that both nations can expand cooperation in infrastructure construction, information technology and manufacturing in order to boost two-way trade to 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2015.

 

It is estimated that the bilateral trade between China and India hit 70 billion U.S. dollars in 2011, more than 20 percent higher than that of the previous years in spite of the global economic slump.

 

In order to further enhance economic consultation and cooperation, the two sides launched the Strategic Economic Dialogue mechanism last year, Krishna noted in a written interview.

 

From Tibetnews