India, China to sign five accords during PM Singh's visit
Indo-Sino will sign five agreements, including a pact between the two state-run railways, during PM's visit to China next week.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: India and China will sign five agreements, including a pact between the two state-run railways, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China next week, a cabinet minister said on Thursday.
Singh is scheduled to leave Sunday on a three-day visit to China to try to boost contacts between the two most populous countries.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said the accords would also cover sectors such as housing, geo-sciences, land resource management and traditional medicine.
"The memorandum of understanding covering the rail sector will promote cooperation between the Chinese and the Indian railways," Dasmunshi told reporters without elaborating.
India has so far not commented on a Chinese train service to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa launched last year but is apprehensive over Beijing's plans to extend it to Nepal.
Dasmunshi said the pact on land management would aim to boost bilateral cooperation "based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and reciprocity" on "land administration, resettlement and rehabilitation."
He also said the pact on traditional medicine would provide a legal framework to jointly produce and market Indian and Chinese traditional medicines.
Observers warned the accord could face flak as conservation groups say Indian tigers are randomly slaughtered for body parts that are smuggled to the flourishing Chinese medicine market.
Singh's visit to China is also unlikely to be smooth as the two neighbours, who fought a brief border war in 1962, are yet to resolve the dispute.
"If you are expecting that there would be any dramatic turnaround on certain issues, which are long-pending, then it would perhaps be too much," Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee warned last week.
Singh will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, as well as President Hu Jintao.
India says China occupies 38,000 square kilometres (14,670 square miles) of its territory, while Beijing claims the whole of the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is 90,000 square kilometres.
The two Asian giants have seen a thaw in relations in recent years, with their first-ever joint military exercise in southwestern China last month the most recent example.
In November, the countries agreed to double trade to 40 billion dollars by 2010.
Singh is scheduled to leave Sunday on a three-day visit to China to try to boost contacts between the two most populous countries.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said the accords would also cover sectors such as housing, geo-sciences, land resource management and traditional medicine.
"The memorandum of understanding covering the rail sector will promote cooperation between the Chinese and the Indian railways," Dasmunshi told reporters without elaborating.
India has so far not commented on a Chinese train service to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa launched last year but is apprehensive over Beijing's plans to extend it to Nepal.
Dasmunshi said the pact on land management would aim to boost bilateral cooperation "based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and reciprocity" on "land administration, resettlement and rehabilitation."
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He also said the pact on traditional medicine would provide a legal framework to jointly produce and market Indian and Chinese traditional medicines.
Observers warned the accord could face flak as conservation groups say Indian tigers are randomly slaughtered for body parts that are smuggled to the flourishing Chinese medicine market.
Singh's visit to China is also unlikely to be smooth as the two neighbours, who fought a brief border war in 1962, are yet to resolve the dispute.
"If you are expecting that there would be any dramatic turnaround on certain issues, which are long-pending, then it would perhaps be too much," Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee warned last week.
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Singh will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, as well as President Hu Jintao.
India says China occupies 38,000 square kilometres (14,670 square miles) of its territory, while Beijing claims the whole of the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is 90,000 square kilometres.
ADVERTISEMENT
The two Asian giants have seen a thaw in relations in recent years, with their first-ever joint military exercise in southwestern China last month the most recent example.
In November, the countries agreed to double trade to 40 billion dollars by 2010.
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