Heart-to-heart exchanges will boost ties: Wen Jiabao

As curtains drew on the year-long festival of China in India, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao tonight said heart-to-heart exchanges between the people of two countries will help in further enhancing ties.

As curtains drew on the year-long festival of China in India, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao tonight said heart-to-heart exchanges between the people of two countries will help in further enhancing ties.

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"Heart-to-heart exchanges between the two countries will help in further boosting the ties between China and India," the visiting premier said at a ceremony where artistes put up a dazzling show of fusion of the two ancient cultures.

"The outcome of my visit has been successful. We can say that an Asian century has arrived," he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who addressed the gathering at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, said, "We also open our hearts and minds to usher in the next decades of India-China friendship and cooperation."

Singh said the cooperation between the two neighbours will be the keystone of the Asian century that is unfolding.

"I appreciate the personal role by Wen in advancing the strategic partnership. This has laid the ground work for the future India China relations," he said.

"Universally, it has been acknowledged that 21st century is Asian century. In the 21st century, India and China will march together as friends and not as rivals," he said.

"We must close the information gap between the two countries and know about each country's development on our own rather than through third countries," Singh said.