Indian PM to visit China

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will pay an official visit to China from Oct. 22 to 24 as guest of his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying announced on Tuesday.

This is another important high-level visit between China and India after Li's visit to India in May, Hua said, noting it is the first time since 1954 that the prime ministers of China and India visit each other within the same year, which is of great importance to deepening their strategic cooperative partnership.

Chinese leaders will meet Singh and exchange views on issues of common concern, Hua said. Singh will deliver a speech at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

China and India are the two biggest developing countries and biggest emerging economies and the relationship between the two has strategic significance and global influence.

In recent years, China and India have witnessed a comprehensive development in their relationship, especially after Li's visit to India in May, Hua said. The visit yielded fruitful results and laid a solid foundation for the two countries to deepen comprehensive strategic cooperation in the new era, she said.

"We are willing to work together with India to strengthen strategic mutual trust, improve pragmatic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, enhance communication and coordination on major international and regional issues, and push forward bilateral strategic partnership," Hua said.