Leaders of China and India are set to wrap up 2010 with a set of three-high level meetings, concluding strengthening ties between the two nations. The first saw, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Indian Minister of External Affairs SM Krishna meet in Wuhan on Sunday, to attend the two-day 10th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of China, Russia and India. Next, Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo is set to fly to New Delhi at the end of November for the 14th round of border talks between China and India. Dai is expected to meet with Indian National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon. Topping up the year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will visit New Delhi in mid-December. The three high level meetings come just after, Zhou Yongkang member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and also secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee concluded a meeting with with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi to promote development of mutual trust and bilateral cooperation between the two Asian nations.
During the meetings, the two nations are expected to bring up border issues that have been stinging the two countries and often crop up as a thorn of contention, India is also likely to press for China’s more-explicit support for a permanent UN Security Council seat. China has earlier said that it supports India’s aspiration to play a bigger role at the UN and will stay in contact and consultation with other UN member states, including India, on UN and Security Council reform. Additionally, the two nations will discuss sectors and industries that can be opened further to each other in order to harmoniously grow and balance the basket of commodities more evenly between the two nations. In-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues will also be reviewed as both China and India have a larger role to play in Asian and global financial markets and trade.
The two countries have recently concluded the 60th year of bilateral relations which was marked by both through an intermingling of cultural ties, heightened trade and investments and increased employment opportunities for both China and India in each other’s countries. Official statistics show trade volume of the two countries had reached around USD 45.43 billion from January to September, up 43.7 per cent compared with the same period last year. The two countries have set the target of USD 60 billion by the end of this year.