India and China on Tuesday agreed not to allow the boundary problem to slow down the momentum in their bilateral relations.
In their first interaction, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, "We shall show accommodation but an accommodation must take into account ground realities."
"Mutual understanding should be complete and mutual accommodation should be realistic," Singh told Wen, according to National Security Adviser J N Dixit.
Wen's visit to India in March next year "is the most important item on my agenda and it will send a positive signal throughout the world", Singh told him during their 40-minute interaction.
Wen said that while China was extremely frank in resolving the boundary question, it was by no means an "easy task and calls for confidence and patience".
Singh told him that the four rounds of official-level talks between the two sides were "useful" and expressed the hope that the progress made so far would help settle the boundary issue.
The issue of Sikkim came up during the discussion, with Singh reminding Wen of the indication given by China last year that Sikkim was a part of India.
Both sides mentioned Tibet. The Indian PM reiterated India's policy on it, Dixit said, clarifying that there was no reference to the Dalai Lama.
"Our handshake between you and me will catch the attention of the world," Wen told Singh.
The Indian PM agreed with his counterpart that there was a need to accelerate the pace of people-to-people contact.
