BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Tuesday that he is confident about the role India and China will play in transforming Asia and the world.

In a speech delivered at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, Singh said that with the development of multipolarity, major powers, bound together by economic interdependence, would seek to cooperate to their mutual benefit.

"I look forward with optimism to the future and the role which India and China are destined to play in the transformation of Asia and the world," he said.

The confidence was based on the conviction that India and China had enough space to grow in the process of reinforcing their bilateral cooperative engagement.

The building of peaceful and cooperative relationships with neighbors was an indispensable part of India's foreign policy, and India and China had established in 2005 the Strategic and Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Prosperity, he said.

Speaking of the border issue, which has been a key point of difference between the two countries, Singh said that during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India in 2005, the two sides agreed on a set of principles for the settlement of the issue. The construction of a mechanism to look at trans-boundary rivers had been approved by both countries.

Singh is in China for a three-day tour that began on Sunday. It is his first visit since taking office in 2004.

On Monday, Wen and Singh signed a joint document on a shared vision of accelerating bilateral ties and making concerted efforts to promote world development. Enditem