On January 7, 2003, Premier Zhu Rongji met with Manohar Joshi, Speaker of the Lok Sabha (House of the People) of the Republic of India at Ziguangge, Zhongnanhai.

Zhu extended welcome to Joshi who led the Lok Sabha delegation to visit China and expressed congratulation on the 50th anniversary of the Lok Sabha's founding. He said that China and India, both developing countries with ancient civilizations and both facing the common tasks of development and raising living standards, can develop their constructive partnership of cooperation on the basis of the five principles of peaceful co-existence. He added that historical problems should not hamper the development of good cooperative relations. Zhu pointed out that the economic complementarity between China and India is prominent and that last year the bilateral trade volume surged by 30% fully demonstrates that bilateral economic and trade cooperation enjoys broad prospects. He said that the Chinese side is willing to work together with the Indian side to promote friendly cooperation in various fields.

Joshi thanked Premier Zhu for his meeting. He said that India and China, both ancient and great civilizations, cherish a long history of reciprocal connections and exchanges. There exist no fundamental conflicts in their interests, and so long as they abide by the five principles of peaceful co-existence, relations will surely advance. He added that India is willing to expand cooperation with China and further strengthen its friendly ties with China.

Joshi conveyed Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cordial greetings and best wishes to Premier Zhu, who asked Joshi to send his regards to Vajpayee and invited Vajpayee to visit China this year.