China has pledged to work with India to improve relations between the two neighbours.

The comments were made at a meeting between Indian Vice-President Krishan Kant and Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Thursday afternoon.

"As a developing country, China will dedicate itself to its social and economic development," Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said while meeting Kant, who is also Chairman of the Council of States, India's upper house of parliament.

China and India, the two most populous countries in the world, have many common interests in international affairs, Li said.

"Co-operation and friendship should outweigh problems and differences in bilateral relations," Li said. "These should be settled through dialogue and increased contact."

Kant agreed that India will continue to co-operate with China in international affairs, including human rights.

"We wait for the day when our two nations are permanent friends," Kant said.

Meeting Ganti Mohanachandra Balayogi, the speaker of the House of the People -- the low house of Indian parliament -- Li suggested the two countries' parliaments set up a group to facilitate regular and systematic exchanges and contact between Chinese and Indian legislators.

Li said he believed more exchange visits between people from the two countries, especially at parliamentary level, would contribute to a better understanding.

In 1979, then Indian Foreign Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited China, restoring high-level exchange visits between the two nations. In the winter of 1988, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi paid a visit to China, and in 1996 Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a state visit to India. On the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-Indian relations last year, Indian President K. R. Narayanan came to China for a visit.

The friendship between Chinese and Indian peoples has spanned millennia.

"To motivate bilateral relations is the main purpose of my visit," Li said.

NPC Chairman Li Peng invited his Indian counterpart Balayogi to visit China whenever it is convenient. Balayogi accepted the invitation.

(China Daily 01/12/2001)