India and China will jointly as well as separately undertake various proposals in trade, economy, defense, technology and tourism to mark the India-China Friendship Year in 2006, according to the Indian Foreign Ministry.

The presidents and prime ministers of the two nations will exchange messages to commemorate the year, and various high-level visits will also be staged, it said.

In the defense sector, the Indian defense minister will visit China while defense exchanges will continue at various levels. Meanwhile, trans-border interactive visits and sporting activities between the two armies will also be held.

On the cultural side, the publication of "Across the Himalayan Gap: Volume II" will be undertaken as a joint endeavor between the two sides, and there will be a bilingual publication of major India-China bilateral agreements and Memorandum of Understanding that were signed before Dec. 31, 2005.

Literary classics will also be translated and workshops will be organized in both countries on education cooperation by their major universities.

An Indian-style Buddhist temple will be inaugurated in Luoyang in the new year, it said, adding the Indian Minister of Culture will visit China and a Chinese cultural delegation will visit India.

The two countries will sign a cultural exchange program for 2006-2008 and host film festivals in each other's country and encourage joint production of films, it noted.

Meanwhile, friendly exchange of sporting activities, exchange visits of youth delegations, release of commemorative first day covers and joint issue of stamps and establishment of friendship cities between the relevant cities of both countries are some other endeavors to be held jointly this year.

To boost trade, the industrial bodies of the two sides will hold business seminars in both countries, and the two nations will operationalise border trade through Nathu La pass by the summer of 2006.

In 2006, an exhibition will be held on "Journey of Buddhism from India to China" A TV documentary series named "Along the Footprints of Xuan Zang" will be produced by China's Central TV ( CCTV). India will also hold Shaanxi Culture Week in India.

Indian tourism seminar, Indian fashion show, food festival and photography exhibition will be held in China. Besides, India's Ministry of Tourism will also launch its Chinese language website, it added.

Source: Xinhua