Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said in Beijing Wednesday hat China and India share more common grounds than differences, and he is optimistic about the prospects of Sino-Indian relations.

Tang made the remark at a press conference of the current session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in replying to an Indian correspondent.

Tang confirmed that Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, his "old friend," is going to visit China at the end of this month at his invitation.

Tang described Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to India in January this year as "very successful", and said it resulted in remarkable progress in Sino-Indian relations.

He said he hoped the upcoming visit to China by his Indian counterpart will help to bring Sino-Indian ties into a new phase of development.

China and India share many "common interests" on quite a number of major international issues, as well as in bilateral relations of trade and economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

According to the Chinese foreign minister, Chinese and Indian experts have made new progress on the border issue through talks and negotiations.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2002)