Beijing: In a major breakthrough, India and China signed a record 24 agreements worth $10 billion on Friday. The agreements include those of education, railway, cooperation among others.
Protocol for setting up Consulates-General at Chengdu and Chennai besides an MoU on consultative mechanism for cooperation in trade negotiations were among the 24 agreements signed.
An action plan between the Indian Railways and China National Railways on enhancing cooperation in the railway sector was also signed. An MoU on education exchange programme and 'Space Cooperation Outline' were also signed.
Other key agreements are on developing China India think tanks, maritime cooperation and ocean sciences. Four agreements were signed on sister-state and sister city relations between Karnataka and Sichuan province; Chennai and Chongqing; Hyderabad and Qingdao; and Aurangabad and Dunhuang.
An agreement on setting up a Mahatma Gandhi skill centre in Ahmedabad was also signed besides a broadcast tie-up for Doordarshan and China's state-run CCTV.
Agreements on education exchange programme, on mining and minerals, skill development, tourism and vocational education also figured on the list.
Two MoUs between Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Yunnan Minzu University and another with Fudan University were signed on the establishment of a Yoga college and centre for Gandhian and Indian studies, respectively.
The key agreements were signed on the second day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China.
In a joint press conference after the signing of the deals, Modi said, "We have a historic responsibility to turn this relationship into a force of good."
"We both reiterated our strong commitment to make all efforts to maintain peace and tranquility in the border region. We should be sensitive to each others' interest," he said.
"I also discussed some of our regional issues and we agreed to strengthen mutual trust and manage our differences with maturity. I stressed on the need for China to re-consider its approach to some issues that hold us back from realising full potential of our partnership. I sought tangible progress on issues relating to visa policy and trans-border rivers. I also discussed some of our regional concerns. I reiterated our strong commitment to make all efforts to maintain peace, tranquility in border region," he added.
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