On November 19, 2012, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Phnom Penh.

It was of great significance for China and India, the most populous countries and two neighboring nations with ancient civilizations, to step onto the road to prosperity at the same time, Wen said, adding peaceful co-existence and close cooperation not only benefited the people of the two countries, but also helped to promote world peace and prosperity. Both sides have kept closer bilateral relations, established a strategic cooperative partnership, set out the political guiding principles for resolving the border issues and maintained the peace and tranquility of the border area. Both sides have also enjoyed rapid growth of bilateral trade and more active people-to-people exchanges and joined hands to safeguard their common interests in major international and regional affairs.

Wen said the two countries should seize strategic opportunities to expand mutually beneficial cooperation. First, China and India should enhance bilateral communication and coordination in implementing macro-economic policies through strategic dialogues and better combine each other's development strategies. Second, both sides should promote infrastructure cooperation, Wen said. The Chinese government encouraged Chinese enterprises to participate in major construction projects in India, he said. Third, Wen also called for favorable policies and social environments for expanding investment in both countries as well as facilitation in finance, information and legal services. Fourth, more efforts should be made to improve the quality and level of cooperation and foster new growth points, Wen said. Fifth, Wen also suggested the two sides promote bilateral trade to achieve balanced growth while opening up markets to ward off protectionism.

Singh offered congratulations on the successful conclusion of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Singh said the friendship between the two countries has a long history. The two nations have improved the dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, expanded cooperation areas and conducted close communication and coordination in international and regional affairs since the establishment of a strategic partnership of cooperation, effectively safeguarding the common interests of both countries and other developing nations. India was ready to work with China to push bilateral ties to a higher level, he said.