Article Posted on : - Dec 01, 2011

NEW DELHI (PTI): India will send a high-level army delegation to China before the end of next month soon after the Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) between the two countries on December 9 with an aim to improve the bilateral ties.

"Both sides will undertake a further round of delegation exchanges before December-end," the Defence Ministry said in a release here.

The military delegation could be led either by a Lieutenant General or a Major General.

The delegation will visit China after India and China hold the fourth round of their ADD here on December 9.

"The dialogue will be chaired by Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma and the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese PLA, Gen Ma Xiaotian will lead the Chinese side there," the Ministry said.

This will be the third such exchange of visits between the two countries this year.

After a freeze over visa row, India had sent a multi-command delegation under Maj Gen Gurmeet Singh from June 19-23 after which a delegation from the Chinese Army visited here for interactions with their Indian Army counterparts from November 4-9.

During the ADD, both sides will exchange perspectives on regional and global security issues and also review the ongoing Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) on the borders.

The two sides will discuss their military exchange programmes for the next year including the resumption of their joint hand-to-hand Army exercise.