India, China discuss border, to build trust

New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Hu Jintao Thursday formally declared 2012 the year of Sino-Indian friendship, and decided to enhance political trust to resolve outstanding issues like the decades-old border dispute.

The two leaders held talks in the evening at the end of the BRICS summit also involving Russia, Brazil and South Africa.

The talks lasted for over half hour and covered a range of bilateral issues as well as the need for closer coordination on global issues in multilateral fora.

Hu is understood to have appreciated India for curbing Tibetan protests during his two-day visit, probably his last to India before he makes way for Xi Jinping in a planned leadership succession later this year.

The two leaders declared 2012 the year of India-China friendship.

They unveiled a host of initiatives to bolster cultural and people-to-people contacts, including setting up of a media forum to promote better public perception of their bilateral relationship.

India raised the issue of huge imbalance in trade which has exceeded $70 billion, with the surplus heavily in China's favour, informed sources said.

Hu reportedly assured his Indian host that China was encouraging Chinese companies to scale up imports from India.

The two leaders decided to give a political push to resolve their boundary dispute that led to a war in 1962.

"The Chinese side appreciates the effective and concrete measures taken by the Government of India in overcoming the disruptions and the disturbances and in ensuring the safe and smooth holding of the (BRICS) summit," senior Chinese official Luo Zhaohui told reporters here.

Lou stressed that India and China were enjoying "very sound momentum" in their bilateral ties which is marked by frequent political contacts at the highest levels and cooperation in international issues.

He said the mechanism of meeting between the special representatives of the two governments have been progressing in a "smooth and successful" way to resolve the boundary dispute.