A reading of the Declaration will bring out many more important facets of bilateral and internationalcooperation that have been agreed upon.
The Memorandum on extending border trade is in pursuance of the existing agreements of 1991 and 1992 on bordertrade. You will recall that in 1993 there was another agreement adding border trade through Shipki La pass inHimachal Pradesh to the original agreement on Lipulekh pass. Border trade through these two passes in 2002-03was a little under Rs.10 crores.
Before we left India we had told you that we expect that the Prime Minister's visit to China, the first afteralmost a decade, will buttress the ongoing effort to construct an enduring and strong partnership betweenIndia and China based on the principles of Panchsheel, mutual sensitivity to each other's concerns andequality. I have no doubt that this objective has been achieved.
I will take some more of your time and tell you about the meetings today. Our Prime Minister and President HuJintao recalled very warmly the meeting they had in St. Petersburg. President Hu Jintao said that the visit ofthe Prime Minister will send a message to the entire international community that China and India are comingcloser together. A theme which came through repeatedly in all the meetings, was the commitment of both sidesto impart a much greater momentum to our bilateral relationship in all spheres and build trust and confidence.The Prime Minister emphasized in all his meetings that his visit to China was meant to further build on thetrust and confidence between the two countries and expand the area of understanding between the two countries.All the Chinese leaders that the Prime Minister met termed his visit as extremely successful and referred tothe rich results.
Our Prime Minister and President Hu Jintao agreed that both countries want to pursue the path of economicprogress in their respective countries in an environment of peace in the region, as well as in the rest of theworld, so that the ultimate objective that both countries have of providing a better life to their peoplecould be achieved. The Prime Minister referred to the progress which China has made and compared hisimpressions of today with his earlier impressions when he came here in 1979 and again as a Member ofParliament in 1993 and complimented the Chinese leadership on the progress that they have made. In return, theChinese leadership complimented the Prime Minister on the progress that India was making and also the veryremarkable progress that India has made in certain spheres, especially in the area of science and technology.
You heard the Prime Minister speak at the Business Forum. He emphasized the fact to the Chinese leadershipthat one of the main objectives of his visit was to strengthen the economic relationship and that is why hehas brought the largest-ever business delegation that has travelled with the Prime Minister and that this willcontribute to the enhancement of our relationship in the economic area.