Liu Qibao (R), a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Communist Party Secretary of Sichuan Province, meets with Indian Minister of External Affairs S.M. Krishna in India on Wednesday, November 11, 2009. [Photo: scol.com.cn]

Indian Minister of External Affairs S.M. Krishna Wednesday met with Liu Qibao, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Communist Party Secretary of Sichuan Province, both sides agreed to further develop friendly and cooperative relations.

Liu said that in the past few years, China-India relations have maintained a good momentum of development. He said China wishes that the both sides can put to work the important consensus already reached by the leaders of the two countries and maintain relations of good friendship and good neighborliness, while deepening and widening cooperation of mutual benefits.

This conforms to not only the basic interests of the two countries, but also will exert wide-ranging and positive influence on the whole world, he said.

Liu also said that China is willing to work with India to take advantage of the timing of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries next year, in order to push forward greater development of bilateral relations.

For his part, Krishna said that as two emerging powers, it is not only in the interests of India and China to develop friendly and cooperative relations, but also is beneficial to the prosperity and development of Asia and even the whole world.

He said the Indian government and the Congress party are firmly convinced of the importance of developing good relations with China and hope to push forward a continuous development of relations of strategic and cooperative partnership with China.

Krishna said the Indian government is firmly opposed to the negative media hypes by certain media institutions in India on bilateral relations, and believes that the two countries can solve the existing problems in bilateral relations through mutual consultations.

He also highly evaluated the results achieved by China in dealing with the international financial crisis, and expressed his wish that the two countries further strengthen friendly cooperation in trade, investment and information enterprises.

At the invitation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Liu and his delegation arrived in Bangalore on Nov. 9 for a four- day friendly visit to India.

During his visit, Liu has also met with the leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress party.