Chinese PM to visit India by April 2005

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is expected to visit India early next year. An indication to this effect was given by visiting politburo member o...

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is expected to visit India early next year. An indication to this effect was given by visiting politburo member of the Communist Party of China Liu Qi when he called on Home Minister Shivraj Patil here today, officials said.

New Delhi and Beijing are working on scheduling the first meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Wen on the sidelines of next week’s Asean Summit in Laos, prior to the Chinese Premier’s visit to India within the first quarter of 2005.

The Singh-Wen meeting will be the highest-level contact between the two countries since the UPA Government assumed office in May this year.

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Emphasising that Sino-Indian ties must be strengthened, Liu told Patil that China regarded its relations with India as ‘‘one of the most important parts’’ of its foreign policy approach and wanted to resolve all outstanding issues amicably.

Liu, who arrived here on November 23 on a six-day visit to India, said with India and China constituting one-third of the global population, friendship between them would be in the interest of not not only the two neighbours but also for world peace.

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