Indian PM meets his Chinese counterpart

PHNOM PENH: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.

In the opening remarks, Jiabao said he cherished working with Singh over the last eight years during which they met for 14 times. "We established good working relationship and friendship between us. This is reflection of friendship between our two great nations," Jiabao said.

"This is possibly the last meeting between us in my remaining tenure," he said, while referring to the change of leadership in China under which he will demit office in March.

Singh hailed Jiabao's personal endeavour to make the bilateral relationship "stronger, wider and deeper". He specifically referred to Jiabao's two visits to India in 2005 and 2010, saying these helped make the ties stronger.

China is India's largest trade partner but the trade deficit between the two economies has ballooned to USD 23 billion in China's favour in October this year, as India continues to import more than what it exports to the country.