India-China want early resolution to border questions: Mukherjee

Calling for greater cooperation between India and China, President Pranab Mukherjee Thursday said the the two countries share the desire for "early resolution" of the outstanding issues, including "boundary questions".

"Our nations share a desire for early resolution of the outstanding issues between our states - including the boundary question," Mukherjee said Thursday at a banquet hosted for Chinese President Xi Jinping at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He said since both India and China are committed to maintaining peace and tranquility at the border, dialogue mechanism between the two countries should be "error proof".

"We are both committed to the maintenance of peace and tranquility at our borders; we both would like to ensure that the dialogue mechanisms that we have created for this purpose are error -proof. It is important for us to improve the dialogue and co-operative engagement between our two militaries and constantly strive to enhance the communication between them at all levels," the Indian president said.

Calling for greater cooperation between the two countries, Mukherjee said both sides will have to remain sensitive to each other's "concerns and aspirations".

"...There exists considerable potential for greater co-operation between India and China in the bilateral, regional and international spheres," he said.

"We are now focused on giving a fresh impetus to our joint efforts. We would like to realise the full potential of our many complementarities. At the same time, in order to create and sustain a positive environment for this to happen and endure, it is necessary for us to remain sensitive to each other's concerns and aspirations."

Mukherjee also said there is a need to address the trade deficit between the two countries.

"Enhancing our trade and economic co-operation is in our common interest. To achieve this, we can and must, re-double our efforts to address the trade deficit, provide better market access to each other's goods and explore the opportunities to create co-operation in the infrastructure sector," he said.