India, China should improve military ties to resolve border dispute: President Pranab

New Delhi: India and China are committed to maintenance of peace and tranquility on their borders and both would like to ensure that their dialogue mechanisms to resolve such issues are error proof, President Pranab Mukherjee said at the banquet speech in honour of Chinese President Xi Jinping. [caption id=“attachment_1719779” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] President Pranab Mukherjee said India and China were committed to solving their border disputes. PTI[/caption] Mukherjee, who returned from a state visit to Vietnam on Wednesday, said that both sides agree there is considerable potential for greater co-operation between India and China in the bilateral, regional and international spheres. Both sides are focused on giving a fresh impetus to their joint efforts and “we would like to realise the full potential of our many complementarities,” he said. “At the same time, in order to create and sustain a positive environment for this to happen and endure, it is necessary for us to remain sensitive to each other’s concerns and aspirations. " Touching on the trade deficit, he said “we can and must, re-double our efforts to address the trade deficit, provide better market access to each other’s goods and explore the opportunities to create co-operation in the infrastructure sector”. On the festering border issue, the president said: “Our nations share a desire for early resolution of the outstanding issues between our states - including the boundary question. “We are both committed to the maintenance of peace and tranquility at our borders; we both would like to ensure that the dialogue mechanisms that we have created for this purpose are error-proof. “It is important for us to improve the dialogue and co-operative engagement between our two militaries and constantly strive to enhance the communication between them at all levels.” Mukherjee said both sides need to take bilateral ties “to a level where our programmes and initiatives facilitate the realization of our common goals of progress and prosperity for our two nations. Both our countries are committed to working in that direction.” Earlier in the speech, welcoming President Xi and his wife First Lady Peng Liyuan, the president said their state visit is “taking place at a time when India and China are looking forward to a new era in our bilateral relations”. He said the people of India see China “as a great civilization, a nation that has achieved unprecedented progress and prosperity in a remarkably short span of time. “The spectacular success of the People’s Republic of China in economic development, poverty alleviation, infrastructure creation and information connectivity is, indeed, inspiring”. “As a neighbour, India would be happy to see China continue on its path of robust economic growth and productivity and further contribute to a stronger global economy and peace in the region and the world.” The president said as their bilateral ties “evolves to a partnership that is balanced and broad-based, we will create significant opportunities for both our countries to take initiatives for mutual benefit in the bilateral context and also to accrue the benefits that we seek from the evolution and growth of Asia.” IANS