Hindi-Chini still bhai bhai: PM

BERLIN: Describing China as India's "greatest neighbour", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Thursday, said New Delhi wanted the "strongest relationship" with Beijing and would do "everything possible" to cement the ties as he met President Hu Jintao here.

During their 30-minute meeting here on the sidelines of G-8 Summit, Hu hailed Singh's "insight and vision", saying it had helped bilateral relations in "most impressive way".

Meeting for the second time in seven months, the two leaders reviewed the status of bilateral ties, particularly progress on implementation of 10-point strategy agreed upon last November to boost the relations.

"Our government and people, regardless of their political affiliations, want strongest relationship with China," Singh told Hu.
He told Hu that India considers China as "our greatest neighbour" and "it will be our endeavour to do everything possible to cement our relationship".

Referring to the 10-point strategy firmed up during Hu's visit to India in November last, Singh said its implementation is going on very well.

The two neighbours had decided to venture on the strategy to boost their comprehensive ties in commercial, political and strategic areas.
As part of the programme, the world's two fastest growing economies agreed to enhance two-way investments to achieve the bilateral trade target of 40 billion US dollars (approx Rs 1,80,000 crore) by 2010, double than the present level.