New Delhi, November 7
Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay a state visit to India from November 20-23 and hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders on various aspects of Sino-Indian relations, including the vexed border issue.
Announcing this here today, a spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry said the Chinese President’s visit at the invitation of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam “is part of the high-level exchanges between India and China in recent years.”
Apart from the national Capital, Mr Hu will visit Agra and Mumbai.
Mr Hu’s sojourn to this country in this year of Sino-Indian friendship will focus on intensifying trade and investment between the two countries.
Chinese officials indicated that China is actively considering having a free trade area (FTA) with India following the growth in bilateral trade. In their
perception the FTA can benefit nearly 2.4 billion people.
The issue of security pertaining to Chinese investment in India is also expected to figure in the discussions.
Mr Hu’s visit has thrown up expectations of forward movement in respect of the decades-old border problem between the world’s two most populous countries.
Following the forging of the Strategic Cooperative Partnership between India and China last year, the Chinese have acknowledged that significant advances have been made in bilateral economic and security cooperation. At the same time there remains lack of mutual trust with relation to military affairs.
