Beijing: Sino-India relations have acquired "strategic significance" and if the two countries work together they can generate "tremendous momentum" for global peace and prosperity, President Pranab Mukherjee told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday.
"If we come together we can generate tremendous momentum for peace, prosperity and development which will not only benefit our two people but also the entire humanity," he said in his opening remarks during talks with Xi at the Great Hall of the People.
"My visit is an affirmation of the friendship between our two nations and our people. I have no doubt that it will enhance public support and understanding of the relations," he said.
The talks began after Mukherjee was given a ceremonial welcome with a 21-gun salute.
Welcoming Mukherjee, Xi said, "You are a seasoned statesman and old friend of the Chinese people who has long been committed to promote friendship between China and India."
"When I visited India in 2014, I was warmly received by your excellency and the Indian government. During that visit we had sincere and candid discussions on China-India relations and issues of mutual interest and we reached lot of common understandings," Xi, who is also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, said.
"I am sure your current visit will hopefully strengthen the momentum of high-level exchanges between China and India and hope to take forward our overall relations and friendly cooperation in various fields," he said.
Mukherjee told Xi that, "I bring with me the greetings of the government and 1.25 billion people of India. My visit is an affirmation of the friendship between our two nations and our people. I have no doubt that it will enhance public support and understanding of the relations."
"India and China are two large growing economies and major powers on the world stage. We represent over 40 per cent of humanity. Our relations transcend the bilateral ambit and have acquired regional and global and strategic significance,"
Mukherjee said on the third day of his four-day state visit. "We are old also civilisations who have enriched each other. We have similar developmental stages. Above all we are neighbours who have co-existed harmoniously for much of our history," Mukherjee said.
Noting that China and India are next door neighbours and both are ancient civilisations and emerging markets, Xi said historically there has been a frequent inter flow of exchanges between China and India where they learnt from each other and created splendid cultures in their own nations.
"Together we contributed to the developmentand progress of the nations. We spread the values of peace, harmony and openness to the world and composed a beautiful chapter in inter-civilisational exchanges," he said.
Observing that at present, both India and China are at a crucial stage of reforms and development, Xi said both are in pursuit of the great goal of national rejuvenation and are committed to making lives better for the 2.6 billion Chinese and Indian people.
"We are both committed to making the international political and economic order more fair and reasonable. It can be said our dreams are shared and our interests well aligned," Xi said.
"China stands ready to work with India in our good tradition of mutual learning to strengthen all round cooperation between our nations and to take China-India strategic cooperation to new heights so that our two countries can realise common development and we can make even greater contribution to peace and prosperity in our region and the world at large," the Chinese President said.
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