Vajpayee looks north, to visit China in June

Stating that ‘‘not a single bullet had been fired’’ across the Line of Actual Control in the last three years, Fernandes said that New Delhi is hopeful of working towards improving ties with its northern neighbour.

Drawing from his experience on the week-long trip to China, Fernandes said that there was a strong desire on both sides to normalise bilateral relations. According to him nearly 99.9 per cent of the issues between the two countries had been solved and only minor differences remained to be thrashed out.

Referring to his talks with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and chairman of the Central Military Commission Jiang Zemin, Fernandes said that the Chinese leadership ‘‘also want friendship with India’’.

Vajpayee would be the first Prime Minister after P.V. Narasimha Rao to visit China in over a decade. During the 1993 visit of Narasimha Rao, India and China had concluded the historic agreement for peace and tranquility on the Sino-Indian border. Earlier Vajpayee had also visited China in his capacity as Foreign Minister in the Janta government in the late 1970s.

Referring to the ongoing talks, Fernandes said that peace talks were on and if they went ahead positively there could be results. His talks with the Chinese leadership had indicated that Beijing did not want impediments in its march towards becoming a leading global economic player by 2021.

Sino-Indian trade had jumped manifold and there was enormous scope for bilateral trade to grow said Fernandes, adding that Chinese leaders were keen on joint ventures with New Delhi.

Referring to the two-day conference, Fernandes ruled out the privatisation of Ordnance factories on the ground that it was critical sector. The Defence Minister also hoped that the Ordnance factories would be able contribute significantly in promoting Indian defence exports.