On May 21, 2013, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council met with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi.
Li Keqiang first conveyed the cordial greetings and best regards from President Xi Jinping to President Mukherjee. Li Keqiang said that as an old friend of the Chinese people, Mr. President is committed to promoting China-India friendship and has made important contributions to pushing forward China-India relations. The Chinese side highly appreciates this.
Li Keqiang noted that China and India are strategic partners and friendly neighbours. One major achievement of the visit is that leaders of both countries have agreed to view our bilateral relationship from a strategic and overall perspective, to expand common interests, to promote comprehensive cooperation, to build up more consensus and to overstep the differences so as to benefit the two countries and the peoples with the development of China-India relations.
Li Keqiang noted that the development of the China-India relations requires a peaceful and stable international environment. The two countries share quite a number of identical or similar positions in international affairs, both advocating to increase the representation and say of developing countries in major international organizations, opposing trade protectionism and remaining committed to safeguarding world peace and to against all forms of terrorism. China is willing to work with India to further deepen the strategic cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity and to make new contributions to peace and prosperity in Asia and the world.
Mukherjee asked Li Keqiang to convey his cordial greetings to President Xi Jinping. Mukherjee said that the Indian side highly appreciates the choosing of India as the first stop for the first visit abroad as Chinese Premier took office, wishing the visit a great success. The India-China relationship has enjoyed a rapid development in recent years, with frequent high-level exchanges, increasingly strengthened political mutual trust and fruitful results of practical cooperation. The India-China relationship has now gone far beyond the bilateral scope and exerted a significant influence on regional and global peace, stability and development. India is willing to join the efforts with China to carefully safeguard the hard-won achievements for the bilateral relations and to upgrade the India-China strategic cooperative partnership to a new high.