Make our friendship a mighty force- India PM to Chinese youth
November 8, 2013, 9:51 am

The exercise was aimed towards further strengthening bilateral relations between India and China through youth exchange programmes [PMO India]

The delegation was led by Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China Xu Xiao.

Singh told the Chinese youth delegation that “People to people contacts strengthen our relationship”.

“Youth of the two country should be on the same wavelength. That will make our friendship a mighty force,” said the prime minister.

The exercise was aimed towards further strengthening bilateral relations between India and China through youth exchange programmes.

This is the eighth youth exchange programme being organised with China.

India’s Youth Affairs Minister Jitendra Singh, who met the delegation earlier said: “There is a lot that the rest of the world can learn from both the countries, as both India and China develop fast and challenge the till recent dominant view that models of economic and social development are to always come from the West”.

Next year has been designated as the “Year of Friendly Exchanges” between the two nations.

India will add up to 300 million people over the next two decades – the equivalent of almost the entire population of the United States – to its workforce.

India’s population grew three times faster than China’s over the past decade and is also far younger.

Singh during his recent China trip addressed youth leaders at the Central Party School in Beijing.

The prime minister said the world needs both China and India to “prosper together”.

“We were not destined to be rivals, and we should show determination to become partners. Our future should be defined by cooperation and not confrontation,” he urged.

Earlier last week, South Africa had proposed a substantial increase in investments to counter unemployment in BRICS nations calling for the establishment of a BRICS Youth Employment Fund to be set up by 2014.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the global youth unemployment rate is estimated at 12.6 per cent and close to its crisis peak.

Source: Agencies