A senior Chinese diplomat said on Sunday that China will make concerted efforts with India to promote the countries' strategic and cooperative partnership in 2012.
"China is willing to make joint efforts with India to continuously implement the important consensus reached between leaders of the two countries, maintain high-level exchanges, enhance strategic mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields and properly handle issues concerning the bilateral relationship," Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.
"China hopes that the two sides will support each other and learn from each other, so to push for better and faster development of Sino-Indian strategic and cooperative partnership," Liu said.
Liu applauded the growing momentum that China and India have maintained in developing their partnership, noting that the two nations have expanded exchange and cooperation in various fields and established effective communication and coordination on significant international and regional issues.
"A steadily growing Sino-Indian partnership will not only bring benefits to the two peoples, but it will also be conducive to promoting peace, stability and prosperity in Asia and the world at large," Liu said.
China and India designated 2011 their "year of exchange," Liu said, adding that the activities hosted by the two sides helped the two peoples increase their mutual understanding and friendship.
According to Liu, the two-way trade between the two nations during the first 11 months of 2011 hit 67.28 billion U.S. dollars, up 21.8 percent year on year.
The first meeting of the China-India strategic and economic dialogue, the bilateral consultation on defense and security, and a 500-member Indian youth delegation visiting China also helped to foster closer ties between the two sides, Liu added.
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