Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s2.t5.7

v2.c14.s2.t5.7

Wen Jiabao, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, visited India from April 9-12 in 2005, during which he met several Indian leaders, such as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, Sonia Gandhi, Chairman of the Indian National Congress Party, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Indian Vice President and ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and Lal Krishna Advani, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Premiers of the two countries published a joint communiqué to announce the establishment of a strategic cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity to promote the bilateral relations to a new level. Both sides signed agreement on the political guiding principles, which is the first political guidance document on the border issues since restoring the negotiation of border issues in 1981, symbolising a new stage of the India-China border negotiation. In addition, both sides published a five-year plan of comprehensive economic and trade cooperation to provide a guide for the bilateral trade development. During this visit, Premier Wen made a speech titled *Hand-in-Hand, Creating a Better Future* at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, calling on all the young people in India and China to create a peaceful and prosperous future hand-in-hand and proposing concrete suggestions on building strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.