Li: China and India are strategic partners

NEW DELHI - Visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stressed the global strategic significance of China-India relations Tuesday during a meeting with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.

"China and India are strategic partners and friendly neighbors, " Li told Mukherjee on the third day of his trip to India, the first leg of his first foreign trip since taking office in March.

"One major result of my current visit is that leaders of both countries have agreed to treat bilateral ties from a strategic and overall perspective," Li said.

The two countries have agreed to expand common interests, advance comprehensive cooperation, reach broader consensus and overcome their differences to make bilateral ties a blessing to the two countries and two peoples, Li added.

The Chinese premier noted that the development of the China-India relations needs a peaceful and stable international environment.

He also said the two countries share many identical or similar positions on international affairs.

Both countries advocate increasing the representation and voice of developing countries in major international organizations, oppose all forms of trade protectionism, and remain committed to safeguarding world peace and combating terrorism, Li said.

China is ready to work with India to deepen their strategic cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity and to make new contribution to peace and prosperity in Asia and the world at large, Li said.

For his part, Mukherjee said his country highly appreciates Li's choosing India as the first stop of his maiden overseas tour as China's premier.

Mukherjee said the India-China relations had been developing rapidly in recent years, with maintenance of close high-level contacts, increasingly enhanced political mutual trust and fruitful results from pragmatic cooperation.

The India-China relations have gone far beyond the bilateral scope and exerted a significant influence on peace, stability and development of the region and the world at large, he said.

India is willing to join efforts with China to safeguard the hard-earned achievements in the bilateral ties and lift the India-China strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level, the Indian president added.