Around 100 officials and scholars from China and India Saturday gathered in Beijing to discuss how to boost cooperation between the two Asian giants.

"Dragon and elephant have danced together in recent years," Feng Zuoku, vice president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said at the start of the seminar.

Dragon is usually referred to China while elephant signifies India.

As a metric of rapidly-growing ties, bilateral trade volume hit 51.78 billion US dollars in 2008, making China India's top trading partner, Feng said.

Feng said both countries made breakthroughs in military and security cooperation and enjoyed huge potential in cooperation in information technology, culture, education, finance, science and counter-terrorism.

The two-day seminar aimed at examining the merits and faults in the development of both countries and enhancing mutual understanding.

Feng said the seminar would also discuss how the two countries would work together to tackle the global economic downturn.

"India-China relationship that encompasses two fifths of the world's population is imbued with relevance for developing nations everywhere," India Ambassador to China Nirupama Rao told the seminar.

"There is an overarching consensus across India's political spectrum that an efficiently transacted and well-balanced relationship with China is vital to India," she said.

Rao, the first lady ambassador of India to China, said the relationship had entered a phase of growth and expansion, in various spheres.

"There is constructive dialogue on a number of issues, including political, economic, culture, people-to-people and military cooperation."

She said the partnership between the two countries was even further extended by their ability to complement each other's strengths.

"The tree of India-China relation is a tree of life. It will grow as it is nourished by the development and progress of both countries," she said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2009)