Indian President Pratibha Patil held talks with Chinese leaders yesterday as she kicked off a state visit to mark the 60th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic relationship.
In the first trip to China by an Indian head of state in a decade, Patil called on Beijing to expand trade ties and pledged to work together on international issues.
Patil holds a mainly ceremonial position, and mainland experts said her six-day visit would serve more to underscore the two countries' common interests as emerging powers than to settle thorny issues such as border disputes.
In her meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao , Patil said India hoped to expand on trade co-operation and investments.
'India and China are neighbours and are fast-developing emerging countries; we share a lot of common interests on bilateral and multilateral fronts,' she was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
Bilateral trade declined by 16 per cent to US$43.38 billion last year amid the global financial crisis and complaints by Indians about an influx of Chinese products. New Delhi has launched anti-dumping investigations on more than a dozen imports from China.
