Sino-India border talks making considerable progress: Menon

New Delhi, Oct 20 : Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China today said that both sides have made considerable progress in finding a solution to the "complex" boundary issue.

The Prime Minister will attend the 7th ASEM Summit from 24th to 25th Oct.

"We are satisfied with the progress achieved. We are making progress," Menon told reporters on the eve of Singh's two-nation visit to Japan and China.

While Singh's visit to Beijing this time is to attend the 7th ASEM Summit from 24th to 25th Oct, Menon indicated that the Prime Minister is expected to meet with the Chinese leadership on the sidelines of the meeting.

Singh met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in New York on September 24, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.

During that session, the two leaders had stressed the need to find a mutually acceptable solution to the border issue at an early date.

Menon noted that the two Special Representatives of India and China, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo have held 12 rounds of negotiations so far.

Unable to find a negotiated settlement through diplomatic channels, India and China appointed Special Representatives in June 2003 to address the border issue from a political perspective of the overall bilateral relations.

He said the two sides have already reached agreement in 2005 on the guiding principles and political parameters for resolving the boundary issue.

"We are making steady progress," Menon said while going on to describe the boundary question as a "complex issue."

ANI