India and China will sign five agreements, including a pact between the two state-run railways, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China next week, a cabinet minister said Thursday. Singh is scheduled to leave Sunday on a three-day visit to China to try to boost contacts between the two most populous countries.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said the accords would also cover sectors such as housing, geo-sciences, land resource management and traditional medicine.
"The memorandum of understanding covering the rail sector will promote cooperation between the Chinese and the Indian railways," Dasmunshi told reporters without elaborating. India has so far not commented on a Chinese train service to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa launched last year but is apprehensive over Beijing's plans to extend it to Nepal.