China Visit ''Highly Successful'': Pranab

New Delhi, June 2 (UNI) Describing his China visit as ''highly successful'', Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said it had given further momentum to the process of building trust and understanding and diversifying Sino-Indian relations ''across a wide range of areas''.

Summing up his six-day visit at a banquet hosted in his honour by Political Commissar of Shanghai garrison Major General Dai Changyou last night, Mr Mukherjee said it had helped in translating the thoughts of the top political leadership who have prioritised the areas of cooperation between the two countries.

Minister Mukherjee further termed India-China partnership as ''an important determinant for regional and global peace and development'', according to reports received here today.

The Shanghai banquet was Mr Mukherjee's last official engagement in China before his departure this morning for Singapore to attend the 'Shangri-La dialogue' there.

Last evening, immediately after his arrival in Shanghai from Lanzhou, Mr Mukherjee drove down to the Shanghai Naval Base where he was taken on a guided tour inside a missile frigate specially recalled from the high seas for the Indian Defence Minister. The frigate has a displacement capacity of 2,066 tonnes and a maximum speed of 27 nautical miles per hour. It is capable of air defence and anti-submarine warfare.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Mukherjee referred to the first ever Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation between India and China which he signed earlier in Beijing on May 29 and hoped that in the 'Year of Friendship between India and China' which the two countries were observing this year it would provide ''the necessary framework for cooperation''.

During the coming years, there will be more cooperation among all the three Armed Forces of the two countries, he said.

UNI DG VD BD1526