India, China bilateral visits like 'reaping fruits in autumn'

China said Tuesday it looks forward to receiving Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Beijing later this year and that the visits, including of Premier Li Keqiang to India in May, were like "sowing the seed in spring and reaping the fruits in autumn".

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a joint press interaction with Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in Brunei on the sidelines of the ARF meeting, said their talks were very cordial.

"We had a very cordial discussion like between good friends and brothers. If you take a look at how close the two of us are, you can see how close the relationship between our two countries is," Wang said.

"The most important thing that we agreed upon is to constantly push forward China-India relationship. Premier Li Kechiang just visited India, and we look forward to receiving Prime Minister Singh in China later this year. We believe that these two visits are like sowing the seed in spring and reaping the fruits in autumn, and this is our common goal which we believe serves the interests of both peoples."

Wang said both countries are natural strategic partners and should engage in all-round cooperation in a wide range of areas.

"We are two big countries and we have the important responsibility; we believe that we shoulder this common responsibility to regional and global peace and stability."

Khurshid said "both sides have reviewed the work that has to be done, that has already been done since Premier Li's visit. And amongst the various things that we are going to do is several consultations on the region in the areas that we are interested in."

Khurshid said Defence Minister A.K. Antony would be China in two days' time and "we will take our defence cooperation to a higher level. And most important of all for you, we are looking at ways and means of getting the Chinese media and Indian media together".

To a question if there had been any progress in the 16th Round of boundary talks between their special representatives, Yang said the talks were "very successful and good progress was made", which Khurshid reiterated.