India, China to sign tourism deal

India and China are set to sign a key bilateral agreement soon to facilitate easy movement of tourists between the two neighbouring countries, a senior Indian official here said. “Given that our forefathers made such tremendous effort and overcame barriers of physical and oral communication to learn from each other and to visit each other, it would only be pertinent in this 21st century for us to make even greater effort to continue with the friendly tradition of good neighbourly relations and exchanges set by our forefathers,” deputy chief of mission of Indian Embassy, Debnath Shaw said.

Speaking at function in Zengzhou in Central China’s Henan province to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of Bodhidharma in China, Shaw said relations between India and China have shown a trend of healthy growth in recent years. “There have been several high-level visits in recent times. Our economic and commercial ties are growing rapidly. People-to-people exchanges are growing too,” he said. Shaw also said a delegation from the Buddhist Association of China will be visiting India early next year, specifically to look at some of the famous buddhist sites such as Nalanda, Rajgir and Varanasi.