Photo: AFP

FOR A NEW ERA: Chinese President Hu Jintao and his wife Li Yongquing on arrival at the Air Force station in New Delhi on Monday. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is at right.

NEW DELHI: Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived here on Monday evening on a four-day state visit as part of expanding leadership-level contacts between the two countries. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal received Mr. Hu at the airport.

In keeping with the positive tone and tenor of bilateral relationship, India and China are expected to sign as many as 10 agreements on Tuesday.

This will be the second visit by a Chinese head of state to India — the first was by President Jiang Zemin in November 1996.

Incidentally, Mr. Hu is undertaking the visit when the two countries are celebrating the "Year of Friendship."

To visit Rajghat

Mr. Hu will hold "restricted" and delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Hyderabad House on Tuesday.

Dr. Singh will host a lunch in Mr. Hu's honour. The Chinese President will also lay a wreath at the Rajghat.

Among the agreements to be signed are one on bilateral investment protection and another on enhancing foreign office consultations. Senior officials said on the sidelines that work was going on to issue a "joint document."

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will host a banquet in Mr. Hu's honour on Tuesday evening.

Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will also call on Mr. Hu on Tuesday, while Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani will visit him on Wednesday morning.

High-level delegation

A 40-member delegation, including Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Commerce Minister Bo Xilai, Minister for National Development Ma Kai, and the Head, General Office of the Communist Party of China, Wang Gang, is accompanying Mr. Hu.

The officials said steady, high-level exchanges between India and China culminated in the conclusion of a "strategic and cooperative partnership" during Premier Wen Jiabao's visit last year.

During Mr. Hu's visit, the two countries would "add substance" to their "strategic and cooperative partnership." Making it clear that improvement of relations was an ongoing process, the officials stressed that there was "peace and tranquillity" along the Line of Actual Control.

The confidence-building measures, put in place over the years, had been working well, and the two countries were now looking at solutions to the boundary issue through the mechanism of Special Representatives on the basis of agreed "guiding principles."

Global significance

According to the officials, Mr. Hu's visit has not only regional but also global significance since India and China are major countries with rapidly growing economies.

The countries now have a mature relationship and can work together in various fields, they point out.

Two-way trade will touch $20 billion this year — up from $5 billion in 2002 and a paltry $265 million in 1991. Chinese companies were executing more than 30 projects in India, the officials said, adding India was the "number one destination" in the number of projects awarded to Chinese companies this year.

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