China and India's future prosperity lies in partnership not rivalry, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday, promising to redress a yawning trade imbalance between the rapidly growing Asian giants.

Premier Wen Jiabao talks with teachers and students at the Tagore International School in New Delhi on Wednesday during his three-day visit to India. [China Daily]

Wen, making his first visit to India in five years, came as the head of a 400-strong delegation of Chinese business leaders seeking to boost trade ties and ease tensions in a relationship long marked by mutual suspicion. 

"China and India are partners in cooperation, not rivals in competition," Wen told a business forum at the start of his three-day visit, during which the two countries hope to sign trade agreements worth close to $16 billion.

Unlike the package US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed during their visits to India earlier this year, which both exceeded $10 billion, the agreements with China will leave most of the money in India, instead of asking New Delhi to buy foreign goods, a source at the Foreign Ministry told China Daily.

The source, who declined to be named, said the deals will largely focus on investment, the construction of infrastructure and the purchase of Indian products.

China is India's largest trading partner. The value of bilateral trade is expected to reach $60 billion this year, a 30-fold increase since 2000.

Yet Wen said this is insufficient, adding that he and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, will discuss substantially increasing bilateral trade during his visit.

He called on New Delhi to discuss expanding cooperation in the areas of tourism, energy and green technology.

The premier also dismissed India's concern that China is trying to shut Indian companies out of the Chinese market.

Bilateral balance of trade is heavily in China's favor. India's trade deficit with China rose from $1 billion in 2001-2002 to $16 billion in 2007-2008.