Tuesday, May 30 2006 12:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee will call on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao today (May 30,2006) to discuss bilateral political issues after yesterday's military-level parleys.

Wen undertook a successful visit to India in April last year during which Beijing and New Delhi decided to upgrade their bilateral ties to strategic levels.

Mukherjee will also meet with the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, General Guo Boxiong, before winding up the first leg of his six-day state visit to China, official sources said.

Mukherjee and his Chinese counterpart Gen Cao Gangchuan yesterday signed a historic and first-ever MoU to institutionalise military training and expressed their "endeavour" to hold joint military exercises and training programmes so as to add more content to the two countries' emerging strategic relations.

"This is the first-ever agreement of its kind between the two countries and I am confident that it will serve as an effective framework for facilitating our defence dialogue and exchanges," Mukherjee told Cao during their over two-hour-long interaction.

"We must work together to implement it fully," he said.

Mukherjee said the MoU provides a formal basis for the first time for defence and military exchanges that have been taking place between the two countries in the last few years.

The MoU is a major confidence building measure in the defence field between India and China and will contribute towards building up greater understanding and trust, Mukherjee said.

The two Ministers reached a consensus to endeavour to hold joint military exercises and/or training programmes in the field of search and rescue, anti-piracy, counter-terrorism and other areas of mutual interest.

Earlier, Mukherjee had a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minster Li Zhaoxing, which he described as 'very productive.'

During their talks, Li pledged to step up strategic and cooperative relations with India in 2006, a year of friendship between the two neighbouring nations.

Li said Beijing attaches great importance to relations with New Delhi, noting that the common prosperity of China and India, with one-third of the world's population, would be a huge contribution to humankind.

The Defence Minister yesterday visited the Academy of Military Science of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) here and received a briefing from experts.

He also toured the ultra-sensitive Beijing Aero Space Command and Control Centre of the PLA, the world's largest standing army of over 2.5 million.

The Minister will also visit the headquarters of Lanzhou Military Region in Lanzhou city in northwestern China's Gansu province and tour the Shanghai Naval Base in the country's economic hub in east China.

Mukherjee will leave for Singapore on June 2 to continue his three-nation official visit.