Delivering a speech in honour of China's Xi Jinping, President Pranab Mukherjee said at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, "The people of India see China as a great civilisation, a nation that has achieved unprecedented progress and prosperity in a remarkably short span of time. The spectacular success of the People's Republic of China in economic development, poverty alleviation, infrastructure creation and information connectivity is, indeed, inspiring."

"As a neighbour, India would be happy to see China continue on its path of robust economic growth and productivity and further contribute to a stronger global economy and peace in the region and the world."

Talking about the border conflict, the President said, "Our nations share a desire for early resolution of the outstanding issues between our states -- including the boundary question. We are both committed to the maintenance of peace and tranquility at our borders; we both would like to ensure that the dialogue mechanisms that we have created for this purpose are error-proof."

"It is important for us to improve the dialogue and co-operative engagement between our two militaries and constantly strive to enhance the communication between them at all levels," he added.