At the invitation of Prime Minister of the Republic of India Dr. Manmohan Singh, Chinese Premier Wen Jibao of the State Council arrived at the airport of Bangalore on the afternoon of April 9, kicking off his official visit to India.

In a speech delivered at the airport upon his arrival, Wen said China and India are next-door neighbors with friendly exchanges dating back to ancient times, and the bilateral relations have shown a positive momentum of all-round development since the dawn of the 21st century. As the world's two major developing countries, China and India will exert positive influence on peace and development in Asia and the world at large by living in peace, deepening mutual trust and expanding cooperation.

Wen noted that the Chinese government attaches importance to developing the good-neighborly relations and friendly cooperation with India and stands ready to work with India to handle bilateral ties from a strategic and overall perspective, expand and deepen exchanges and cooperation in all areas and properly address problems left over from history so as to uplift China-India relations to a new level.

During his visit Premier Wen will meet with local government officials in Bangalore and visit the High-Tech Park of Bangalore. He will also go to New Delhi, the capital city of India, to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Singh and meet with other Indian leaders to exchange in-depth views on bilateral relations and other issues of common interest.

India is the last stop of Premier Wen's four-nation tour to South Asia which has already taken him to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.