Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), left Beijing Tuesday morning on an official goodwill visit to India.

Li was invited by Chairman Krishan Kant of India's Upper House of the Parliament and Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi of the House of the People.

Li's trip represents another high-level visit between the two countries following Chinese President Jiang Zemin's state visit to India in 1996 and Indian President Kocheril Raman Narayanan's visit to China in May 2000.

During the trip, Li will hold talks or meetings with leaders of the Indian government and parliament, and have contacts with the Indian parliamentarians and people from other circles, exchanging views on Sino-Indian relations and regional and international situations.

In addition, Li will inform the Indian leadership of China's situation and foreign policy, and learn about India's economic and social development.

Li's entourage includes his wife Zhu Lin, Vice-Chairman Buhe of the NPC Standing Committee, and Wang Chaowen, a member of the NPC Standing Committee and chairman of the NPC Ethnic Affairs Committee, and Chen Huanyou, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress, and Xu Huizi, a member of the NPC Standing Committee and deputy chairman of the NPC Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee, and Raidi, chairman of Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress, and Gu Shanqing, a member of the NPC Standing Committee and a member of the NPC Financial and Economic Committee, and Deputy Secretary-General Lu Congmin of the NPC Standing Committee, and Director Wu Wenchang of the NPC Standing Committee Chairman's Office, and Assistant Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

(Xinhua 01/09/2001)