India-China Friendship Association, Karnataka

By H.E. Mr. Song Deheng, the Consul General

The Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Mumbai

April 2nd, 2005, Bangalore

Mr. Prakash, Hon'ble Minister for Revenue of Karnataka,

Mr. Ramdass, National President of India-China Friendship Association,

Mr. Thimmappa, President of India-China Friendship Association in Karnataka,

Mr. Bhaskaran, General Secretary of India-China Friendship Association in Karnataka,

Distinguished Guests, Dear Friends,

Ladies and Gentleman,

It is my great pleasure to be here at the invitation from India-China Friendship Association shortly after assuming office of the Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Mumbai. I believe I could have a pleasant stay in this beautiful city, Bangalore, which is celebrated as a garden city and "Indian Silicon Valley" during following days, especially after my experiences of hullabaloo and congestion in Beijing. So I am grateful to India-China Friendship Association for inviting me here.

Today, the world is witnessing the breathtaking changes taken place in both India and China. The rapid and sustaining economic developments of both countries are becoming the impetus to the world economic growth. Accounting more than one-third of the world population, the improvement of more than 2.3 billion people's living destined to influence significantly on the future of the world. There is a folksay in China which says "it would be better to make friends with an immediate neighbor than to hobnob with a remote kinfolk", as two near neighboring countries, we both need a peaceful and stable surrounding environment, we have no reason not to develop good-neighborly and friendly relations and carry out mutually beneficial cooperation. In short, it is so important for us to understand and promote Sino-Indian relationships without any delay or hesitation. So what the India-China Friendship Association has been doing in this direction is worthy of admiration and appreciation.

Both of our Governments, the Consulate General and the ICFA are committing ourselves to promote the bilateral relationships between the two countries. Our friendly relations can be traced back to as early as 200 B. C.; we share the similar historical experiences, we are facing arduous task of developing our economy, eradicating poverty and improving the livelihood of our people as well as dealing with those challenges brought by the globalization; thus we recognize that we have to continuously develop our friendship and cooperation. We just celebrated the 55^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, it is high time for us to look forward to the further development of the bilateral ties. On the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, our relationship has maintained a momentum of continuous development and entered a new phase of comprehensive development in recent years thanks to the joint efforts of both sides. We launched the strategic dialogue and enhanced the mutual confidence politically. The bilateral trade reached more than $13 billion last year. My Consulate issued 30 thousand visas to India visitors last year. Driven by the stronger and stronger desirability of accelerating exchanges and cooperation from both sides, the Chinese Premier's forthcoming visit in this city and Delhi will bring the relationship between our two countries to a new high. The excellent cooperation in various fields between two oriental giants is attaching the attracting all over the world.

In a wider vision, as two largest developing countries in the world, China and India have extensive common interests in international political and economic arena. The friendship and cooperation between the two countries not only serve the fundamental interests of our two peoples, but also contribute to peace, stability and development in Asia and the world at large. Both of us favor a multi-polar world, both of us should shoulder the responsibility to maintain the regional and international peace, both of us should work together to protect the various interests of developing countries in the framework of United Union, 20 Group and other international organizations, both of us should make great efforts to push the establishment of a just and reasonable international order politically and economically.

Dear friends, as the old friends of Chinese people, you have been engaging yourself always in improving Sino-Indian friendship, I hereby express my respect to you for your contributions to this great mission. Meanwhile, I also hope that you would help more Indian people know more about their neighbor, provide more chances like this Seminar to increase interactions between us, I myself and my Consulate General will try our best to work with you for this noble cause.

Thank you all.