Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday said his country favoured strengthening relations with India.
Vajpayee, who is in St Petersburg for the tercentenary celebrations of this city, drove to Hotel Corinthia Nevskij, where the Chinese leader was staying, for a meeting billed as very important in the context of the prime minister's upcoming visit to China next month.
Welcoming him with a warm handshake, Hu told Vajpayee: "Our relations are improving and strengthening and we look forward to the bilateral visit in the near future," an obvious reference to Vajpayee's visit to China.
Vajpayee will be the first Indian prime minister to visit China in a decade after P V Narasimha Rao in 1993.
The prime minister, on his part, congratulated Hu on assumption of presidency.
Saturday's meeting was the first exchange of views between the top leadership of the two countries in recent times.
Vajpayee was accompanied by his Principal Secretary and National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal during his meeting with Hu.
