Premier Wen Jiabao held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Monday, resulting in a joint statement and a declaration of the establishment of a strategic cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity.

Singh expressed a warm welcome to Wen and said his visit, as they mark the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, is a milestone.

The two leaders reached common views on expanding friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide range of fields and signed an agreement on political guiding principles for solving border issues.

The Indian prime minister said that developing relations with China is important to his country not only from the view of bilateral relations, but also from a regional and world perspective.

He said promotion of exchange and cooperation is not only the desire of the people of India, but is necessary to ensure their development and welfare.

Wen made a six-point proposal to: politically clarify the status of relations; widen exchange and cooperation; deepen economic and trade cooperation; expand cultural and people-to-people exchange; establish mutual trust in security; and speed up negotiations on border demarcation.

Singh agreed, adding that India wants to work together with China to make their border a link of peace and friendship.

Wen welcomed efforts by India and Pakistan to improve their relations, and said China is not seeking any interests of its own in South Asia and that its promotion of relations there is not against any third party. He added that China will play a constructive role in promoting peace and development.

The two leaders also attended the signing of a number of agreements on cooperation in fields including finance and civil aviation.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2005)