India and China on Monday decided to deepen their economic ties, cooperate on civil nuclear energy programme and enhance military interactions besides working together at various international forums.
"India and China have a historic opportunity for economic and social development and the realisation of this goal will advance peace and prosperity in Asia and the world at large", a joint statement issued after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his visiting Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang said.
"The two sides welcome each other's peaceful development and regard it as a mutually reinforcing process.
"There is enough space in the world for the development of India and China and the world needs the common development of both countries. Both countries view each other as partners for mutual benefit and not as rivals or competitors," the statement said.
The two sides attached great importance to the active role of the Strategic Economic Dialogue in promoting macro-economic policy coordination and pragmatic cooperation in various fields between the two countries and expressed satisfaction over the progress made in the meetings of the Dialogue.
As large developing countries committed to promoting the use of clean energy, India and China believe that expansion of civil nuclear energy programme is an essential component of their national energy plans to ensure energy security, the statement said.
"The two sides will carry out bilateral cooperation in civil nuclear energy in line with their respective international commitments," it added.
While striving to realise the trade turnover target of USD 100 billion by 2015, the two countries agreed to take measures to address the issue of the trade imbalance.
These include cooperation on pharmaceutical supervision including registration, stronger links between Chinese enterprises and Indian IT industry and completion of phytosanitary negotiations on agro-products.
The two sides agreed to further enhance bilateral cooperation on maritime security, searching and rescuing at sea, oceanic scientific research and environment protection, work together to tackle increasingly non-traditional security threats and strengthen cooperation in naval escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia to ensure security of international sea-lanes and freedom of navigation.
The two sides noted that enhanced interaction in the military field was conducive to building mutual trust and confidence.
Both sides agreed to hold the next round of joint training exercises later this year.
The two countries agreed to further strengthen cooperation in areas of environmental conservation, new and renewable energy and high-technology.
The statement said both countries share a common interest in preventing protectionism and in an open multilateral trading system.
The two sides agreed to continue pushing forward the Doha Development Round, consider the potential for a bilateral Regional Trade Arrangement and review the state of negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
