Visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh agreed?on Monday to further consolidate the Sino-Indian strategic cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity and to push for fresh and substantial progress in bilateral cooperation.

In his meeting with Singh, Premier Li said China and India are important neighbors and partners by nature.

He noted that remarkable advancement has been made in bilateral ties, political mutual trust deepened, fruitful results made in the cooperation of every field, and people-to-people exchanges constantly expanded.p China and India have made satisfactory coordination and cooperation on major regional and international affairs, and achieved positive progress on border negotiations, Li added.

"We are pleased with the achievements in bilateral relationship and confident of the future," Li said.

Li said choosing India as the first leg of his maiden overseas tour as Chinese premier demonstrated the sincerity of China's new leadership and the great importance that it attaches to developing ties with India.

China is willing to join efforts with India to seize the opportunities to deepen cooperation and let the two peoples benefit from the development of the China-India ties, Li said.

Li raised a five-point proposal on furthering bilateral ties.

Firstly, China and India should strengthen strategic communication to increase political mutual trust, said Li.

They should give full display to the steering role of the regular high-level visits and meetings between leaders of the two countries in dealing with the bilateral relations, he said.

The two sides should make good use of the consultation and communication mechanisms between the governments, parties and parliaments, deepen their strategic dialogue, and maintain exchanges at various levels, Li added.

Secondly, they should advance pragmatic cooperation and deepen convergence of interests.

Li called for joint efforts to promote liberalization, facilitation and dynamic balance of the bilateral trade, to expand two-way investments and to launch bilateral talks on regional trade arrangements.

The two sides should also jointly develop large-scale cooperation projects in such fields as industrial parks and infrastructure, Li said.

He called for establishing an economic corridor among China, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh to push for closer links between the two major markets.

Thirdly, the two countries should enhance cooperation in defense to increase mutual trust on security affairs, said the Chinese premier.

They should strengthen military exchanges by carrying out consultations in the fields of defense and security and by conducting joint training and drills, Li said.

He added that they should also keep strategic communication on maritime affairs and join hands in safeguarding peace and security.

Fourthly, the two sides should expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges to enhance mutual understanding, he said.

The two parties have designated 2014 as the year of friendly exchanges between China and India to mark the 60th anniversary of the launch of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, said the Chinese premier.

Li urged the two sides to promote communication in education and media, exchange of visits between the youth of the two countries, and exchanges at the level of local governments.

Fifthly, the two Asian neighbors should take into account each other's concerns, properly handle sensitive issues, and continue to push forward negotiations on border issues so as to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in border areas, Li said.

They should make full use of the existing mechanisms to beef up cooperation on issues concerning cross-border rivers, Li added.

For his part, Singh said India and China, both at a crucial stage of development, share extensive common interests and harbor great potential for cooperation, adding they would remain best neighbors and cooperative partners no matter how regional and international situations change.

Singh said that the Chinese premier's current visit to his country is of milestone significance and will surely push for greater development in the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership.

He said India is willing to work with China to actively implement consensus reached by the two sides and seek more fruitful results in bilateral cooperation in various areas.

During the meeting, Li also reiterated Beijing's principles and stance on Tibet, while the Indian prime minister said his country recognizes Tibet as part of the Chinese territory and will not allow any anti-China activities on the Indian soil.

The two leaders also had in-depth exchange of views on regional and global affairs, agreeing to enhance coordination within the G20 and BRICS, and cement cooperation in such fields as climate change, anti-terrorism and food and energy security.

They also agreed to jointly increase the developing countries' say on world arena and safeguard common interests.

Li arrived in India Sunday afternoon, the first leg of his maiden foreign trip since he became Chinese premier in March. He will also visit Pakistan, Switzerland and Germany.

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