Other than the formal announcements that the two neighbors have agreed on a framework for "strategic and long-term relationship," both sides remained tight-lipped about the outcome of the talks, which is believed to have touched on boundary disputes and economic relationship.

Officials from Beijing held a six-hour meeting with their Indian counterparts in New Delhi and agreed to hold next round of talks in the Chinese capital city to talk on international terrorism, non-proliferation and energy security.

"Launching of the new dialogue mechanism indicates the resolve of the two countries to take bilateral engagements into a long-term and strategic relationship," India's Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters after the talks.

India's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran led the Indian delegation in the talks with China's Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei.

"Both (officials) briefed each other on their respective foreign and security policies," Sarna said.

Despite claiming closer ties, both India and China have still not resolved some of their long-standing boundary disputes, but now the economic relationship is overshadowing the border issues. The bilateral trade between the two Asian giants now stands at nearly $13 billion a year.

The talks were also aimed at paving the way for a visit to India by the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in March and the two nations agreed to work closely to ensure a substantive outcome of the visit, which they described as "a major milestone in bilateral relations," Indo Asian News Service reported.

"Several ideas were discussed. It was agreed that discussions between the two foreign ministries would continue to prepare for the visit," Sarna said.

Asked if Pakistan figured in the talks, Sarna said: "Our relationship with China is a bilateral relationship, and we have a fair amount to discuss."

"The importance of reforming international institutions, including the UN, was underlined," Sarna said.

The Chinese minister called on India's Foreign Minister K. Natwar Singh.

The two nations fought a bitter war in 1962 and have been since claiming the other is occupying parts of its unmarked land. India claims China still holds 40,000 square kilometers (16,000 square miles) of its territory in Kashmir, while Beijing lays claim to a wide swathe of territory in Arunachal Pradesh

India, which is home to Tibetan leader Dalai Lama's government in exile, formally recognized in 2003 the area known as the Tibetan Autonomous Region as part of the People's Republic of China, a move that soothed the tense relations between Beijing and New Delhi.

India is home to nearly 300,000 Tibetans living in exile along with their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. The Tibetan government in exile is headquartered in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala.

Observers said the talks focused on a range of issues, including Islamic extremism in the region, the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Iran's nuclear standoff with the Western world.

Sujit Dutta, a China expert at New Delhi's Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, says the dialogue is a clear signal that the world's two most populous countries want to enhance cooperation as they seek to play a larger role in international affairs.

"It is a step toward stabilizing the relationship between India and China, which are the two emerging countries, both these countries are modernizing fast," Dutta told VOA. "It is necessary to stabilize that relationship. They are very large countries; they affect everyone else."

"We believe that the first China-India strategic dialogue will be of great significance," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan said in Beijing.

India also sought China's support for its candidature for the U.N. Security Council.

Sino-Indian relations have been warming up in the past few years with a flurry of official exchanges, covering issues from border disputes to enhanced trade and closer political ties.

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