President Pratibha Patil visits Beijing

New Delhi, May 26: President Pratibha Patil left for Beijing making the first visit by an Indian Head of State to China in a decade. She is expected to sign a number of agreements during the six-day state visit.

Patil will go to Loyang and inaugurate the famous White Horse Buddhist temple. She will also make the visit to the India and China Pavilions at the Shanghai Expo 2010 and address members of India-China business forum.

India aims at three crucial components during the visit including political dialogue, economic cooperation and cultural diplomacy, which the two nations vowed to execute in order to deepen and expand the strategic cooperation.

"The visit signals our unequivocal commitment to deepen and expand our Strategic and Cooperative Partnership with China," said Nirupama Rao, Foreign Secretary of India.

Nirupama Rao also said that the President will have extensive talks with her counterpart Hu Jintao, Ms. Rao in Beijing. Patil will also meet with other senior Chinese leaders including Wu Bangguo, the Chairman of the National People"s Congress, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman of the Chinese People"s Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin. Ms Rao also said that all bilateral issues and the situation in the region will be discussed during the meetings.

OneIndia News