CRI听力:Modi's Visit to Set New Milestone in Sino-Indian Ties: Ambassador

India's ambassador to China, Ashok K. Kantha, says that the Indian Prime Minister's Chinese visit will further enhance economic ties between the world's two largest developing countries.

"This time we can expect sound results. China is likely to intensify its investment in India. Meanwhile, India hopes to extend cooperation with China on economics, trade and investment. The two countries are expected to reach more than ten specific cooperation projects, and sign at least 20 economic and trade cooperation agreements. Our cooepration has been expanded from only taking place between the two capitals to include more regions and various levels. I believe Prime Minister Modi's visit will be a new milestone in the development of the Sino-India relationship."

Among various cooperation platforms, the Indian Ambassador mentions that the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank would provide necessary financial support for the development of member countries, including India.

"The AIIB is an intergovernmental multilateral development institution in Asia. We hope the AIIB can fully respect and draw on member countries' successful experiences, and play its due role. We hold a positive attitude in regards to it."

At the present stage, the cooperation between China and India is full of opportunities.

The number of China's outbound tourists to India climbed to nearly 200 thousands in 2014.

Kantha says India has made the visa application procedure simpler to attract more Chinese tourists.

"We have already simplified procedures for visa application, including tourist visa and business visa. Currently, we can ensure that the visa processing time is within two workdays. Prime Minister Modi welcomes more Chinese people to visit India. He says that direct exchange between people is positive to the development of the Sino-India relationship."

The Indian Prime Minister's three-day visit to China will begin on Thursday.

In order to have closer interaction with Chinese people, Modi opened an account on Sina Weibo earlier this month.

Ambassador Kantha gives more details on how the official account has been operated on the Chinese twitter-like platform.

"The microblog's content is written by the Prime Minister himself. We helped him to translate the words and then published them. The prime Minister has taken the importance of social media into consideration. Through this means, he hopes to have direct communication with Chinese people, thus enhancing friendship between the two countries."

Modi is the first Indian political leader to open an account at the Chinese microblog, and now has some 45-thousand followers.

For CRI, I'm Huang Shan.